Legends of oz, return of an old enemy
by Peter1312
Summary: (this is a legends of oz fic) sequel to Another Adventure. it has been three months since dorothy's last adventure in oz. when on her first day back at school, she finds that some unexpected Friends have been keeping an eye on her since her return. The jester is back but no one knows where, dorothy will have to return to oz, but this time she'll be forced to make a choice.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer, I don't own the characters, the movies, the franchise, etc.**

It had been almost three months since Dorothy's last adventure in oz. she had done her job in helping clean up the damage that had been done and school was starting that day. Dorothy was already awake and had grabbed herself a pear from the fruit bowl on the table. Her uncle was already up and working in the fields and her aunt was working on fixing the tractor. Toto was the only one keeping Dorothy company at the time. As soon as she finished she went into her room and pulled on her boots, and picked up her new satchel which had all the school supplies that she need for her first day. She looked out the window, it was pretty cloudy outside.

"Might rain today Toto." Dorothy said, her dog barked in agreement.

She then grabbed the locket she had received from the scarecrow so long ago. Dorothy recently celebrated her birthday, she had received some emerald green hair ribbon from her aunt and uncle as a gift. Which she used to tie her hair up into her usual pigtails. She then walked out of the house.

"Take care of the house while I'm away Toto." Dorothy said smiling at her dog.

Dorothy walked down the driveway of her house waving to her aunt and uncle as she walked by. She couldn't wait to get home to let them know how the day had gone. The clouds looked like they were ready to start down pouring again. Rain had been happening a lot since her last trip to oz. she thought about her friends often. She even wondered how they were doing. Dorothy walked for a half hour before she found herself at the school building.

"Ah Miss gale, Pleasure to see you again." Came the voice of the principle.

"Thanks Mr. Alastair." Dorothy said as he handed her a piece of paper with the room assignment.

"Your normal teacher is out today, so though it's not the best way to start the year you'll have a substitute, his name is Mr. U. strange man actually." Mr. Alastair said in an odd tone.

Dorothy nodded and walked into the school, she found herself thinking about Mr. Upland. He was a strange funny man. Bit eccentric and loved colorful clothing. She laughed at the thought of this, she soon arrived at the classroom she would be in for the rest of the year. When she got in she found the kids she had been in classes with for the last 3 years sitting the desks, the only desk that was still open was one in the middle of the front row. Dorothy took this seat and sat down. Immediately gossiping started around her.

"So Dorothy, what do you think the substitute will be like?" said a girl next to Dorothy.

"I don't know Donna, Mr. Alistair said that his name was Mr. U, and that he was strange." Dorothy said looking at the girl who was now chuckling.

"Why can't you be just like the rest of us and spread rumors instead of being a goody two-shoes?" Donna asked in a frustrated tone.

"Because, it's not nice, and you guys do it so often, that you do it for sport now." Dorothy replied rummaging through the satchel and pulling out a pencil.

"Dear lord you're dull." Donna said turning her attention back to the other girls.

Donna was a girl that constantly tried to get Dorothy to follow along with all the pranks that the class pulled on their teachers every year. Dorothy wouldn't have anything to do with it, instead she would normally go to the back of the room and read a book.

Donna was about the same height as Dorothy, she had red hair and blue-green colored eyes. She was one of the oddest girls dorothy had ever met outside of oz. she didn't have time to contemplate this because then the school bell rang, and Mr. Alastair entered the room.

"Now, I know you are all aware that Mrs. Terry is out today and your instructor today is new, but I would like you to give a warm welcome to your substitute Mr. U." he said gesturing to the door.

Dorothy gasped at the sight that she was met with. The entire class burst into laughter. Mr. Alistair then blew into a small whistle he kept in his pocket which silenced the whole class instantly.

"Thank you dorothy, for being the only one grown up enough to not laugh at someone else's clothing." Mr. Alistair said as Dorothy sunk low into her chair.

The man who was Mr. U had a very uncanny resemblance to Mr. Upland, except this time he was wearing a bright green shirt, a light candy colored vest, Yellow slacks and light violet dress coat. In his hand he carried an emerald green top hat.

"Thank you, for the introduction, but I don't mind the laughing I try purposely to be funny." Mr. U said in a high fluty voice that sounded exactly like Mr. Upland.

"Well then, here's the Role. Time for you to call the role." Mr. Alistair said handing a list to Mr. U

Mr. U read off the list, everyone who had been in Dorothy's classes the previous years were once again in her class. And as usual a mess up put her at the bottom of the list instead of in the proper alphabetical order. Dorothy sighed, as Mr. U gave a story about how he came from Canada, and the rest of his life story. This went on until it was time for lunch. That's when the rain started pouring. As the lunch bell rang and everyone got up Mr. U called for Dorothy.

"Excuse me, Miss Gale. Could you please stay behind for a minute?" Mr. U said as everyone gasped.

No one stayed for long because Mr. U shooed them away and shut the door.

"What do you need Mr. U?" Dorothy asked.

"Dorothy, I wanted to talk to you about your behavior." Mr. U said.

"What about it? I didn't do anything wrong did I?" Dorothy asked.

"No, it's just that your behavior, it's just not you." Mr. U said smiling a bit.

"How do you know that?" Dorothy said, her mind trying to wrap itself around this.

"Dorothy, you know who I am right." Mr. U said taking his hat from the desk and putting it on Dorothy head. Patting the top down it went over her eyes.

"I had a feeling, but Mr. Upland what are you doing here?" Dorothy asked taking the hat off her head and setting it on the desk.

"Glinda asked us to keep an eye on you, the jester is definitely back, we just don't know where." Mr. Upland said.

"Wait, us?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, Doris, Ellie and I." Mr. Upland said.

This made Dorothy smile. She hadn't seen Ellie in a long time. She thought about her often though.

"Where is Ellie?" Dorothy asked.

"She, as far as I know is supposed to be at your farm. Doris is subbing in for the Office Secretary. And I actually am a teacher back in Oz." Mr. Upland said taking a plastic bag with a sandwich in it out of his coat pocket. He then opened it and took a bite

Dorothy rummaged through her satchel and pulled out a ham sandwich and ate as well.

"But how did you guys get here? And how long" Dorothy asked concerned.

"Our daughter sent us, she used her magic to send us here. To keep an eye out for the jester and keep an eye on you." Mr. Upland said smiling.

Dorothy was confused, but she didn't want to question it. She asked Mr. Upland if she would excuse her for a minute. He nodded and she walked towards the office. When she got there the door opened quickly and hit her really hard on the head, knocking her unconscious.

**Yes three months, dorothy is now older, and slightly more confused given the recent events.**


	2. Reuniting, and a reason to return

**Disclaimer, if I owned anything of this I would put it on the big screen.**

Dorothy awoke lying down on a cot, her aunt and uncle were sitting at her side. She noticed there was thermometer in her mouth which was immediately pulled out of her mouth.

"98.3 don't worry you're fine Miss Gale." The nurse said shaking the thermometer.

"Oh thank goodness." Aunt Em sighed with relief.

"What happened?" Dorothy asked.

"You were knocked unconscious." Came the voice of Doris Upland.

"Thank you Mrs. U." the nurse said.

Dorothy sat up and felt the large bump on her head, she winced in pain.

"I think it be best if you didn't touch It." the nurse said handing her a fresh Icepack.

"Thanks Mrs. Blue." Dorothy said placing the ice pack on the bump.

"Mrs. Blue can you leave us all alone for a few minutes?" Mrs. Upland asked.

"Sure, Mrs. U just don't open anymore doors in people's faces." Mrs. Blue said walking out and shutting the door behind her.

"Dorothy, these people claim that they are from Oz." uncle henry said gesturing to Mrs. Upland

"They are Uncle Henry." Dorothy said.

"So, Ellie isn't the only one here then?" Aunt em asked.

"Yes, but it's just Ellie, and her Parents, this is Mrs. Upland." Dorothy said turning off the side of the cot.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Doris." Mrs. Upland said extending a hand.

"The feelings mutual." Uncle Henry said shaking it.

"Dorothy, Mr. Alistair suggested that we take you home, you know to avoid getting badgered with questions." Aunt em asked.

"Don't worry Dorothy, My husband and I will come to your farmhouse when the day is over." Mrs. Upland said smiling.

Dorothy nodded and stood up, just then Mr. Alistair came in.

"Oh good your still here, Dorothy are you alright? You seem pretty relaxed for someone who was just knocked unconscious only half an hour ago." Mr. Alistair said.

"I'm used to completely shocking news." Dorothy said walking over to Mr. Alistair, "I'm going to return home, I don't think I want to be badgered by questions." She added quoting what her aunt had told her.

"I think that's a good idea, you didn't miss much, see you tomorrow Miss Gale." Mr. Alistair said

Dorothy nodded smiling. Her aunt and uncle got up and followed her out. Their pickup truck was parked just outside the school. As they got in aunt em finally said something.

"Your friend Ellie is currently waiting for you at the house." Aunt Em said smiling as uncle henry drove them back to the farm.

"The rain is really bucketing down today." Uncle Henry said.

"Drive carefully then." Aunt Em said.

They went along the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived at the farm they all got out and ran inside. Dorothy took her boots off by the door and placed them next to welcome mat. She then went to her room where she was pulled into a crushing hug knocking the wind out of her.

"Dorothy, I'm so glad to see you again." Ellie said breaking from the embrace.

"It's good to see you too Ellie, How's Glinda?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"When I last got in contact with her she was doing fine." Ellie said sitting down on the bed

Ellie had her hair tied up in its usual Pony tail. But her outfit was a dress that looked similar to Dorothy's except that it was emerald green.

"Glinda sent you guys to keep an eye on me then?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, to keep you safe, for the last three months my parents and I have been keeping an eye on you from behind the scenes." Ellie said giggling.

"So your sister commanded it and sent you here?" Dorothy asked.

"Not just her, the scarecrow and china princess were worried as well, Alyssa volunteered to come as well but Glinda said she was needed in Oz to guard the city." Ellie said.

"So you've been spying on me?" Dorothy asked as it started thundering all of a sudden making Ellie jump.

"Technically I guess that's the word." Ellie said lying back on the bed, Toto then jumped up on the bed and barked licking Ellie on the face and then shaking the rain water out of his fur.

"Toto, no." Dorothy said giggling as she was splashed with small drops of water.

"Hello Toto." Ellie said scratching Toto behind the ears. Just then Dorothy's aunt and uncle came in.

"Dorothy we just got a call from Mrs. Kepelsen down the road, her roof's leaking again. We'll be back in half an hour, well hopefully." Uncle Henry said grabbing an umbrella as they both walked out.

"Who's Mrs. Kepelsen?" Ellie asked.

"She a nice old lady that lives a few miles up the road, her husband was put in a wheel chair by an accident, Uncle Henry gave him our number and said to call if they needed anything." Dorothy said listening as the truck drove off and a clap of thunder shook the house. Ellie inched closer to Dorothy with a nervous look. Just then there was a knock on the door.

Dorothy got up and walked over to the door. Putting the bolt and chain into its slot and opened the door. She looked out and saw Mr. and Mrs. Upland standing there. Dorothy unbolted the door and opened it letting them in.

"Thanks." Mrs. Upland said shaking the umbrella out.

"No problem, take a seat, my aunt and uncle went to help an old friend up the road, they should be back soon." Dorothy said as Ellie came out of the room. She ran over and hugged her parents.

"Ellie, how was your day?" Mr. Upland asked his daughter.

"I've been fine dad, mom why did you open a door in Dorothy's face?" Ellie asked her mother.

"I didn't do it on purpose I opened the door, next thing I know I hear a thud and she's on the floor." Mrs. Upland said.

"Well, don't do it again." Ellie said laughing.

"Well you two have fun, your mother and I will be here at the table." Mr. Upland said.

Ellie walked back into Dorothy's room. Dorothy followed and they both sat down on the bed for a minute in silence. Then Ellie produced a little red ball from her pocket and threw it gently across the room for Toto to chase after. This went on for a while before Dorothy finally looked at the clock in the corner of the room. Her Aunt and uncle had been gone for over three hours now which really worried Dorothy. Just then there was another knock on the door. Dorothy got up and ran to the living room opening the door she was greeted by the sheriff.

"Oh good, Dorothy, you're alright, are you aunt and uncle here?" he asked in a worried tone.

"No, they've been gone for over three hours." Dorothy said really worried now.

"Dorothy your aunt and uncle are missing, there pickup truck flipped over near town. It didn't look like there was any trouble and there isn't any blood but they're missing." The sheriff said.

Dorothy was shocked at this, Ellie ran over to her and hugged her Mr. and Mrs. Upland looked at them with a worried expression. Just then a large clap of thunder shook the house. Ellie yelped a bit. Dorothy pulled out of the embrace and walked over to her boots pulling them on she walked outside and stood there in the pouring rain looking around. It wasn't dark yet she could still see the fields, the sheriff and the officers had blocked off the road to her house. People were standing gathered around the house breathing sighs of a relief when they saw Dorothy. Just then a heavy wind blew through. Dorothy swore she heard her name being whispered in the wind, just then someone screamed and pointed at the sky.

Dorothy looked, she saw something that made her feel a bit sick, and the clouds were contorting and reforming on their own. Ellie and her parents ran out of the house followed by Toto. The clouds then turned purple and took form of the face of the jester.

"Dorothy Gale!" came the voice of the jester.

Dorothy turned to face the figure. The sheriff took out his revolver and aimed it at the figure. Dorothy looked and told the sheriff to stand down.

"What do you want!?" Dorothy yelled at the jester.

"What do I want? Oh nothing much just Revenge!" The Jester yelled as a large gust of wind blew past.

Dorothy turned around and saw that Mr. and Mrs. Upland were trying to explain things to the sheriff who had gone pale in the face. Dorothy looked up at the figure of the jester and looked at it, the rain soaking her to the skin she yelled at it.

"What have you done with my Aunt and Uncle!?" Dorothy yelled.

"Oh nothing, I'm just holding them prisoner." The jester said as the image of her aunt and uncle locked in a dungeon one arm chain to the wall, "don't worry, I won't kill them, I need them as hostage to assure your arrival." He added laughing.

"You're a monster!" Ellie yelled running over to Dorothy.

"Why thank you, Miss Upland!" the jester said in a frustrated voice.

"So you know who I am then." Ellie said glaring at the jester.

"Yes of course, when I returned to Oz I did my best to get all the information I could. I cannot attack the emerald city because your Goody-Goody sister Glinda and her apprentice are working themselves ragged to protect it." The jester said making a gagging noise.

"Don't you dare hurt my aunt and uncle!" Dorothy said throwing a rock at the figure of the jester.

"Don't worry about them, it's not them I want, it's YOU! You killed my sisters, you foiled my plans to take over Oz, YOU evaded me and my minions so many times. And now the tides shall turn, you will return to Oz and face me, and this time I will win." He said cackling, the image disappeared and a small girl who had managed to sneak past the barriers. She came over and tugged Dorothy's dress.

"So, all your stories about the magic land, they're all real?" the little girl asked.

Dorothy looked at the girl and kneeled down so she could be at eye level with the girl.

"Yes child, my stories are real, the jester is real, and my adventures were real." Dorothy said.

Dorothy had used the tales of her adventures as stories to tell the children at the public library to keep them amused. The parents loved that Dorothy was able to keep the children interested while they were busy fixing things around the town. The little girl gave Dorothy a quick hug and ran back over to her parents. Just then Donna and Mr. Alistair walked up to her.

"Dorothy, I didn't think you had it in you, I've heard about your stories from my little sister, I always thought they were too farfetched to be true but now." Donna said holding her umbrella out over Dorothy.

"Thanks Donna, Mr. Alistair, why don't you come inside." Dorothy said getting up and walking towards the house. When she got in she found the sheriff sitting on the couch white as a sheet.

She could smell the scent of mint tea coming from the kitchen as Mrs. Upland emerged with a towel and handed it to Dorothy. Dorothy began to feel sick and faint. The next thing she knew she was sitting on the couch the sheriff was now standing in front of her holding a cup of tea and handing it to her. She took it and took a sip, it made her feel revitalized. She sighed and set it on the small table next to the couch. Dorothy sighed and pulled her boots off she then got up and had everyone sit down at the dining room table.

It took her about an hour for her to explain everything to them. She started with her first visit to Oz and her little vendetta with the witch of the west. She then went on to talk about her adventures in Oz against the jester and what happened during her most recent trip, introducing them to Ellie and Mr. and Mrs. Upland. After she was done everyone was still confused except for Ellie and her parents.

"So, you two aren't from Canada, which would explain the accent, which I've been wondering about all day, and you are really a teacher, but neither of you three are from this world?" Mr. Alistair asked taking a sip of tea.

"That's basically the gist of things." Dorothy said bringing Toto into her lap and petting him.

"Uncle Alex, please, please try not to ask too many questions." Donna said to Mr. Alistair. This made Dorothy gasp.

"I didn't know that Mr. Alistair is your uncle." Dorothy said.

"Yes, I've been trying to keep that a secret, but it's why I have such a perfect record, if I started doing badly in school he tells my parents." Donna said sighing.

"Don't worry, your secrets safe with me." Dorothy said.

"Well, I think we've intruded long enough, I assume we won't be seeing you tomorrow?" Mr. Alistair asked.

"Probably not." Dorothy said.

"Well then, almost everyone saw that, that thing happen how are we going to explain it?" Donna asked.

"I think we can pass it off as one group hallucination, I mean this rain is pretty depressing people needed the excitement." The sheriff said getting up.

"But what about dorothy? If she disappears people will have questions." Ellie said concerned.

"Good point, um, because of the recent disappearance of her aunt and uncle we've had her staying with a distant relative." The sheriff said.

"Good that's the plan, come on Donna." Mr. Alistair said getting up and taking his nieces hand and walking out.

"Well dorothy I'm sorry about your aunt and uncle. Good luck." The Sheriff said.

"Thanks sheriff." Dorothy said.

As the sheriff left he shut the door behind him. Dorothy then got up and locked the door, sliding the bolt into a lock she sighed, and began to tear up.

"Dorothy?" she heard Ellie say

Dorothy choked back the tears and looked at her friend.

"How can we get back to Oz?" Dorothy asked pulling on her boots.

"Well first we have to contact my sister." Ellie said walking over to a mirror, she pulled a small glass bottle from her pocket.

She then splashed the contents onto the mirror. It began to glow a bit, it rippled like water being disturbed by a stone. Soon the image of the wizard's chambers appeared in the mirror.

"Hello?" Ellie said into the mirror.

They waited a few minutes and then Alyssa appeared.

"Ellie! Where are you?" she asked concerned.

"We're with dorothy, now that we know where the jester is we're ready to return." Ellie said.

"Dorothy?" Alyssa said as Dorothy walked over and waved, "I'm sorry that the jester has your aunt and uncle." She added.

"Alyssa!" Ellie yelled, "The jester just showed his face in this world, he has her aunt and uncle, and you thought it would be a good idea to bring it up?" She added.

Alyssa looked at Dorothy.

"Don't worry Dorothy, I'll go get Glinda." Alyssa said running off.

"Don't worry Glinda will be able to get us to the emerald city." Mrs. Upland said.

"But every time I go to Oz I end up in some random area." Dorothy said.

"Yes well this time we have a way to get us there perfectly." Ellie said

"How?" Dorothy asked looking at her friend.

Ellie smiled and pulled the necklace with the prism on it.

"You said there would always be a rainbow when you need one." Ellie said showing it to her.

"Glinda connected this one to the prism powering the rainbow mover, according to her all she needs to do is establish the connection and the prisms will connect bringing us to oz." Ellie said.

Dorothy was going to question this when Glinda appeared in the mirror.

"Dorothy, my dear child, I'm terribly sorry for what has occurred. The rainbow mover doesn't work without sunlight so I'll have to transport you in the morning." Glinda said "mom, dad take care of her till morning." She said as the image began to fade.

As the mirror returned to normal Dorothy sat down on the couch, Toto jumped onto her lap and whimpered. She pulled off her boots and picked up Toto. Walking to her room she shut the door and changed into a nightgown. She then lay down on her bed and began to cry a bit. Her aunt and uncle were in danger. And she right now couldn't do anything about it. She eventually fell asleep.

**Well we still don't know where the jester is, but we do know he's in Oz.**


	3. Hatred and sorrow

**Disclaimer, all owner ship belongs to the rightful owners.**

Dorothy awoke before sunrise the next day. She found Ellie sitting in a chair by the window looking out it. She coughed and Ellie turned around.

"oh good your awake, the rains finally stopped, the clouds should clear long enough for Glinda to send the rainbow Ellie said getting up and walking out.

Dorothy then shut the door and changed into her dress, tying her hair back up into pigtails she looked in the mirror and saw that at some point during the night she had been crying. She also saw that Toto was now awake. Dorothy then sat down on the bed, pulled on her boots and pet Toto for a bit. Then there was a knock on her door.

"Dorothy? Are you ready? The sun should be rising soon." Came Ellie's voice.

Dorothy sighed and got up, as she entered the dining room she noticed the image of the chambers had returned to the mirror. The image of Glinda and the scarecrow were also there. The scarecrow was listing random equations off while Glinda was waving her wand over the rainbow mover. As the first rays of sunlight hit the gale farm the rainbow mover whirred to life. Dorothy noticed that the prism around Ellie's neck was now glowing.

"It's coming." Glinda said into the mirror.

Dorothy picked up Toto and they all went outside to wait. Dorothy locked the doors before she shut them completely. Then they all stood in the middle of the yard as the prism began to glow brighter and brighter. Soon a rainbow could be seen moving in the sky. Dorothy braced herself for the rainbow to engulf them. She closed her eyes and hoped that this time she wouldn't feel as sick.

Just then she felt her feet leave the ground. She opened her eyes. They were now all in the rainbow flying at an incredibly fast rate. She saw blurs of scenery. She eventually began to feel sick again. She closed her eyes and grasped on to Toto tightly, then all of a sudden it stopped. She fell backwards losing her balance she found herself being caught by the scarecrow.

"Whoa steady on kiddo." The scarecrow said.

Dorothy got up and hugged the scarecrow, she felt him slip something into her dress pocket. As they broke from the embrace Glinda walked over and took Dorothy's chin into her hand.

"Dorothy, why don't you go relax my child, you can have a reunion later." Glinda said kissing her on the forehead.

Dorothy nodded, Toto barked. Dorothy walked out of the room and searched her pockets, she pulled out the key to her room which still had the ribbon wrapped around it. When she got to her room she unlocked the door and walked in. the room hadn't changed at all, it was still the same, still green and still had its twisting vine pattern on the ceiling. Dorothy walked over to the bed and sat on it. She pulled off her boots and lied down on the bed. She began to cry again. Every moment that she was there was another moment where the jester could be doing something terrible to her aunt and uncle.

She then flipped over onto her stomach and cried into her pillow. She continued to cry for several minutes. She then felt someone lightly poking the soles of her feet. She giggling and flipped over sitting up. She was met with the sight of the scarecrow, the tin man and the lion.

"Dorothy, I know your upset but please, promise us something." The scarecrow said.

"I'll try." Dorothy said wiping tears from her face.

"Promise us that you won't go trying to find the jester on our own." The tin man said in a tone of sympathy.

This upset Dorothy, her friends knew her far too well. She couldn't lie to them. But she couldn't put them in danger either by running.

"I, I promise." Dorothy said getting up and pulling them into a hug.

"Dorothy, if you ever need someone to talk to about this all you need to do is look for one us." The lion said.

"Thanks guys, but if you don't mind I think I need to be alone for a while." Dorothy said.

"Sure thing kiddo, come on guys." The scarecrow said leading the other two out of her room.

Dorothy shut and locked the door behind them as they left. Toto barked and whimpered, Dorothy walked across the carpeted floor and sat back down on the bed.

"Well Toto, we need to find a way to find the jester, we have to save aunt em and uncle henry." Dorothy said.

She lied back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Tears began to roll down her face. She began to cry again. She began to think about what she was going to do. She needed to find a way to rescue her aunt and uncle from the jester, it didn't help that she didn't know where they were. She had to find a way to find the jester without her friends knowing. She didn't have much time to think about it when a knock came from the door.

"Dorothy? Can you please let me in?" came the voice of the china princess.

Dorothy got up and unlocked the door. Opening it she looked down and saw the china princess standing there. She wiped the tears from her face. And picked up the princess setting her down on the table next to the door.

"Did you want something?" Dorothy asked shutting the door.

"I wanted to see how you were doing, we all know your upset, but my room is still the closest if you ever want to talk." The princes said.

"Is that all?" Dorothy asked

"I guess so." The princess said, "Could you please help me down?" she asked.

Dorothy picked up the china princess and setting her down gently on the floor. The china princess gave Dorothy a sad look and walked away. Dorothy shut the door but didn't lock it this time. She walked over to the bed again and sat down. She sobbed for a bit and scratched Toto behind the ears. Dorothy didn't really want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to save her aunt and uncle, she couldn't stand that the jester was back. She got up, she didn't even bother to pull her boots on she just left the room and walked quietly along the hallways Toto following at her heels. She eventually found herself outside of the city. She walking into the grass and sat down. The grass and the dirt felt rather relaxing against her bare feet. She hugged her legs to her chest and tucked her head into the gap between her chest and legs. She was about to cry again when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Dorothy, I know you aren't in the mood to talk to anyone, but please talk to me." Ellie said.

Dorothy picked her head up and looked at Ellie she got up and ran back into the city. She ran till her legs began to feel tired. She looked around and realized she was in a place completely unfamiliar to her. The floor was made of wood. She sat down where she was and cried again. She didn't want to talk to anyone, and now she might have just hurt one of her friends. She wiped some tears from her face, just as Toto ran up to her barking, Ellie came and turned around.

"Glinda, I found her." Ellie shouted.

"Just leave me alone." Dorothy said through sobs.

"Dorothy, I know you're upset, but please you have to talk to us instead of hiding in a workshop." Ellie said as Glinda walked in and knelt down to face Dorothy.

"Dorothy, please my child, Ellie's right you must talk to someone about it at some point, you'll feel better believe me." Glinda said hugging the girl.

Glinda wiped some tears from Dorothy's face and kissed her on the forehead again she then pulled Dorothy to her feet and placed a hand under her chin.

"Don't worry, we will do our best to find the Jester, and your aunt and uncle." Glinda said.

Dorothy smiled. She knew she could trust Glinda enough to know she would do her best to keep her word.

"There's that smile." Glinda said chuckling.

"Sis don't you have to get back to defending the city?" Ellie asked walking over.

"Thanks Ellie, I'm sorry Dorothy but Ellie's right I do have to defend the city, I can talk to you later if you'd like." Glinda said.

"Thanks Glinda, I think I'd like that." Dorothy said

Glinda nodded and walked out, Ellie took Dorothy's hand and led her back to her room. Dorothy walked in and sat down on the bed. Ellie sat next to her kicking off her dress shoes, Toto started toying with them like he always did making her giggle. Ellie looked at Dorothy with a sad expression on her face.

"Ellie, I'm sorry I ran from you earlier." Dorothy said

"Dorothy you don't need to apologize we all know that you're upset, we just don't want you to run off and get yourself captured." Ellie said.

"Ellie I promise you I won't run off." Dorothy said lying down on the bed.

"I hope not, Dorothy do you want me to leave you alone or do you want me to stay?" Ellie asked.

"Please, just leave me alone for now Ellie" Dorothy said.

"Okay, Dorothy if you need us just call." Ellie said grabbing her dress shoes from Toto she pulled them on and left shutting the door behind her.

Dorothy got up and walked into the bathroom, she looked at her face in the mirror. It was red and streaked with tears. She undid her hair from their pig tails and picked a nearby hairbrush. She then brushed her hair and walked over to the sink. Turning it on she bent her head down and splashed the cold water on her face. When she emerged from the bathroom she found Toto waiting for her on the bed. She sat down on the bed next to him and lied down. Eventually she fell asleep.

Dorothy awoke a few hours later to find Ellie tracing a twisting pattern on her soles with her finger. Glinda was looking out the window with a worried expression. Ellie noticed that Dorothy was awake and stopped tracing the pattern.

"Oh, I'm sorry did I wake you?" Ellie asked getting up.

"No, its fine." Dorothy said sitting up wiping some tears from her face. She knew she had been crying in her sleep.

"Dorothy, I want to talk to you about something." Glinda said walking away from the window, "Ellie could you please leave for a few minutes?" she added

Ellie nodded and walked out of the room, Glinda waved her hand and the door shut.

"What is it Glinda?" Dorothy asked.

"It's about the jester." Glinda started to say, Dorothy winced at hearing the name.

"If it's bad I don't want to hear it at the moment, I'm not ready for any bad news." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how we're going to locate the jester. He's made it impossible to find him in the crystal ball. The rainbow mover can't track him either." Glinda said.

All of a sudden there was a clap of thunder.

"Dorothy gale, Show yourself now, I know you're in there." Came the voice of the jester

Glinda shot up and looked out the window, the image of the jester's face was floating in the sky high above the emerald city.

"Dorothy Gale! Face me now." The voice said again.

"Dorothy you should go, don't worry he can't harm you." Glinda said.

Dorothy nodded and got up. She went to the window and looked out she then ran out of her room and outside to the fields. When the gaze of the face fell on her it smiled.

"Oh good, so you are listening." He said grinning widely

"What do you want!?" Dorothy asked yelling at him, she was furious with the jester.

"Like I said before, just YOU." He said laughing, "And don't worry about your aunt and uncle they're perfectly safe." He said as mist enveloped the area.

The image of her aunt and uncle, now in a slightly larger cell.

"Say hello to Dorothy you two." The jester said.

Her aunt and uncle looked up from their slumped positions and gasped.

"Dorothy, please." Aunt Em choked out tiredly.

"You let them go!" Dorothy yelled angrily.

"Um, NO!" the jester said cackling and holding up a wand.

The jester pointed the wand at them, thunder crashed as he held it up, and recited, "Until this girl faces me alone, have these to turn to SOLID STONE!" he said as a purple mist emerged from the wand.

The mist began to swirl around her aunt and uncle, when they were enveloped completely in the mist a scream was heard coming from them. Dorothy closed her eyes and turned away. She couldn't look she didn't want to. When the screaming stopped Dorothy heard a collective gasp. She opened her eyes and turned around to look at the image. Her aunt and uncle had both been turned to solid white marble statues. Dorothy looked up at the jester who laughed at her.

"You see when I returned to Oz I went in search of a new object of power, I went to the castle of my other sister, and I found her wand. Its power is mine and obeys me better than that scepter ever did." The jester said cackling again.

Dorothy looked at the jester and then at the image of her aunt and uncle petrified in looks of pain and terror. She began to tear up.

"You, You MONSTER!" Dorothy yelled beginning to cry.

"Oh is the little heroine of Oz about to cry?" the jester asked with fake sympathy, "cry all you want but I'm not going to release them until I have the chance to destroy you." He said

"It would help if we knew where you were." Dorothy said through sobs.

"No, no, no you will confront me alone, no help what so ever. It will be your job to track me down and get yourself there, or you could take the easy option and let yourself get captured" the jester said laughing

Dorothy fell to her knees and began to cry, her friends all ran over to comfort her but she pushed them away. She got and glared at the jester with a look of fire.

"Fine, you want me to find you I'll play into your little game, because at least I have people worth fighting for, you just want power, you've tasted it and it has corrupted you." Dorothy said.

"Then I shall take away the people you love one by one until you give up." the jester yelled.

Dorothy looked at her friends, then back to the jester. She looked at Ellie and took her hand.

"Do whatever you want, but I will not abandon the people I care about!" Dorothy yelled.

The jester laughed for a minute then looked at the girl, laughed again and then brushed a tear from his eyes.

"Oh how touching, just like Glinda did when she abandoned her sister to protect her from the wrath of my sister and me." The jester said.

Ellie squeezed Dorothy's hand tighter. Dorothy gave her a reassuring look, she then let go of Ellie's hand and stepped forward.

"So trying to act brave?" the jester said laughing, "ha, ha, ha good luck" he added as his image disappeared.

As the mist cleared Dorothy found herself crying again. She felt the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Dorothy, I'm so sorry." Ellie said hugging her.

Dorothy embraced Ellie and cried really hard. She felt afraid. She had just witnessed her aunt and uncle being turned to stone. She felt angry. She then pushed herself out of the embrace and ran back to her room. When she arrived she sat down on her bed and cried.

After a few minutes the scarecrow came into the room with Alyssa.

"Dorothy, kiddo, I know your upset but please talk to us." The scarecrow said.

Alyssa walked over and sat next to Dorothy on the bed, placing a hand on Dorothy's back.

"It's not fair, they never had anything to do with him and he turned them into statues." Dorothy said sobbing.

"I know Dorothy, it isn't fair, and we're sorry." The scarecrow said kneeling down in front of her.

"Dorothy, we all saw it happen, no one wants to see you like this, and we'll work as hard as we can in order to find him but we can't make any promises." Alyssa said.

"Could you two leave me alone please, find Toto as well." Dorothy said through sobs.

"Toto is with Ellie." Alyssa said.

"Dorothy, remember if you need people to talk to just come and find us." The scarecrow said getting up.

Alyssa got off the bed as well and walked out followed by the scarecrow. Dorothy sat on the bed and hugged her legs to her chest. She started to cry silently. She soon felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Ellie and Toto sitting on the bed. She couldn't help but smile. With Ellie in the room she felt a sense of comfort around Ellie, just like she had comforted her during thunderstorms. She hugged Ellie, who returned the embrace. Dorothy smiled.

**This is one of my least favorite chapters, but I hope you liked it. please review.**


	4. Meanwhile, and the new game

**Disclaimer, well you get it by now.**

Dorothy hugged Ellie tightly and cried.

"Dorothy, I'm sorry about what happened." Ellie said running a hand through Dorothy's hair.

Dorothy broke from the embrace and smiled at Ellie. Ellie looked at her and smiled as well.

"Feeling better?" Ellie said wiping a tear from Dorothy's face.

"much." Dorothy said weakly.

"So do you want to talk about it now?" Ellie asked.

"Not really, Ellie, just stick around for a while." Dorothy said.

"Don't worry, dorothy I won't leave your side until you are ready."Ellie said.

_Meanwhile at the jester's hiding place._

The jester was riding around the abandoned castle one a unicycle, juggling some multi-colored juggling balls. He went up to the tower and whipped out the wand. He pointed it to the sky and muttered something. Next thing he knew the flying monkeys were swarming around the tower. He cackled and laughed.

"She will find me and SHE WILL FALL!" he said laughing.

_Back at the emerald city_

Glinda was in her chambers looking into the crystal ball she had made during Dorothy's last adventure. She was watching the witch's castle she was worried when she saw the flying monkeys all disappear. She made note about this and started looking for them, it was as if they just vanished out of Oz, she sighed and sat back in her chair.

"What am I going to do?" Glinda asked herself.

Meanwhile in the room of the china princess, Dorothy and Ellie were enjoying some tea, Dorothy had been quiet most of the time up until now.

"Do you know of any abandoned castles here in Oz?" Dorothy asked.

"Um, I need to think about that actually." The princess said.

"Outside of the witch's castle I can't think of any." Ellie said.

"Me neither, I mean sure the witch of the east owned a mansion that she called castle east it didn't have a dungeon." princess said still thinking about it.

"I need to find him, are there any legends?" Dorothy asked said desperately.

"None that I've heard." Ellie said.

"Dorothy please just don't worry about it, you're making us all worry about you." The princess said.

Dorothy started to tear up as Glinda appeared in the doorway.

"Dorothy, the princess is right, yes you have a reason to worry. But you need to calm down." Glinda said in a nervous tone.

"Thank you Glinda." The princess said.

"Glinda?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes my child?" Glinda asked.

"Promise me that you and Alison will do what you can to locate the jester." Dorothy asked looking like she was about to cry again.

"Dorothy, we will do our best." Glinda said, "But we can't guarantee." She added.

Dorothy nodded and took another sip of tea.

After a few minutes Dorothy got up and walked back to her room with Toto following closely at her heels. When she got back into her room, she shut the door locking it behind her and then dropped down on her bed, she hadn't even bothered to change. And eventually she was asleep.

Dorothy didn't sleep as peacefully as one might have hope, she began to have a new nightmare. She was in a dark room. She couldn't move, she felt trapped. Just then she heard a loud cackle that made her scream. The jester appeared, and lights switched on she was surrounded by white marble statues of her friends. Each frozen in a position of pain and horror. She began to cry when she looked at the statues Alyssa, Elena, Chrissy, Caitlyn, Brianna and Chrissy, each in their own poses of pain. But the one that made her cry the most was seeing a statue of Ellie. She then snapped awake screaming. She was met with the warm embrace of Glinda who automatically took one of Dorothy's hands to the crystal ball which she had brought with her. She was confronted with what Dorothy had been dreaming off.

"Hush my child, it's alright, Glinda said hugging Dorothy tightly removing Dorothy's hand from the crystal ball.

Dorothy cried for a while. She felt a hand running through her hair. She opened her eyes and saw Ellie was the one running her hands through her hair. Glinda was now sitting in front of the crystal ball which was now sitting on a small golden base on the table by her closet. She was looking for something, anything, a trace that would give her a hint to the jesters location. Dorothy got up and ran out of her room. She looked behind herself several times to make sure she wasn't being followed. She wanted to be alone, she needed to be alone. She found herself once more in a place she didn't recognize once again. This time she saw a stair case at the end of area. It sloped down wards so Dorothy assumed it went to some sort of basement.

She walked down then and found that the stairs were made out of stone, it felt cool and damp beneath her bare feet. To her this was calming. She felt along the walls and eventually bumped into an oil lamp and a box of matches. Dorothy lit the oil lamp and continued to walk down. When she got to the bottom she found that it definitely was a basement, or more of a storage cellar. There were several barrels and crates. Dorothy opened one of the crates out of curiosity she found a bunch of wires and scrap metal.

She wiped the tears from her face and smiled, she didn't know why but she felt a wave of tranquility sweep over her. She felt safe in this place. She then heard the sound of someone coming down the steps.

"Dorothy?" came the voice of the scarecrow

"Scarecrow?" Dorothy said.

The scarecrow ran down the steps and saw Dorothy, she immediately ran into his embrace

"Dorothy, I see you found where I get my supplies." The scarecrow said hugging her.

"Supplies?" Dorothy asked

"Yep, it seems the wizard left a bunch of things that he used to build the stuff he deceived us with." The scarecrow replied picking up a piece of scrap metal.

"Oh, um scarecrow?" Dorothy asked.

"What is it kiddo?" the scarecrow asked

"Can you guide me back to the main part of the city?" Dorothy asked

"Sure thing kiddo." The scarecrow said picking up the oil lamp and blowing it out.

They walked back up the steps, hand in hand, Dorothy began to feel much better after doing a bit of exploring, she made note of their locations as they walked along. Eventually Dorothy heard Toto barking and let go of the scarecrows hand as she ran towards it. She also ran straight into the embrace of Alyssa who Dorothy hugged back.

"Dorothy you can't keep running off like that, you gave us all quite a fright." Alyssa said, "Where did you find her?" she asked the scarecrow.

"In the storage cellar." The scarecrow said.

"So, exploring then?" Alyssa asked Dorothy.

Dorothy nodded as Toto ran up to her. She picked him up and almost instantly was licked on the cheek, making her giggle. Ellie and Elena then ran up to her.

"Dorothy where did you go?" Elena asked.

"Exploring." Dorothy replied, "There is definitely places in the emerald city that I haven't discovered yet." She added

"Well then I guess I know what we're doing later." Glinda said walking up to them.

"What do you mean Glinda?" Elena asked.

"Ellie, you and dorothy can explore around the city later." Glinda said smiling.

"Okay sis." Ellie said giggling.

"Dorothy I think it's time you try to get some rest." Glinda said putting a hand under Dorothy's chin.

Dorothy stretching for a bit and nodded. She walked back towards the direction of her room. She didn't walk far before she ran right into marshal mallow and the china princess who was using her pendant and had now grown to the height of marshal mallow.

"Dorothy! Thank goodness you're alright." The princess said.

"China Princess, I mean…" Dorothy started to say.

"Please don't call me china queen, it doesn't have that ring to It." the princess said.

Dorothy nodded, Toto barked.

"I was just heading back to my room to try and get some more rest." Dorothy said walking around them.

Dorothy then continued to walk back to her room, when she got there she dropped back onto her bed and closed her eyes. After a while she began to drift off to sleep, she felt someone kiss her on the cheek. She smiled but didn't open her eyes. And she drifted back off into a dreamless sleep.

She awoke again about three hours later. She got up and walked to the bathroom. Turning on the cold tap she splashed some water onto her face and looked in the mirror. She hadn't cried during her rest that night which made her smile. She still felt the sorrow of her problem but she knew at the moment it couldn't be helped. When she emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later she found Ellie sitting on her bed tossing her little ball against the floor watching it bounce off, hit the wall and bounce back to her. She saw Dorothy and smiled.

"Good morning Dorothy." Ellie said.

"Good morning Ellie." Dorothy said walking into her closet.

"Dorothy I think you should wear this." Ellie said walking in and pointing out a blue and white checkered sundress.

"I think I will." Dorothy said taking it off its hanger.

She emerged from the closet and walking into the bathroom she changed into the sundress. When she emerged she found that Ellie was gone. Toto was now sitting on the bed. Dorothy then tied her hair up into their usual pigtails and walked over to her boots. Pulling them on she walked out, Toto following at her heels.

She walked to the chambers and opened the doors to find Ellie looking really worried, Glinda was looking around Oz in the crystal ball more. Dorothy walked over to them.

"What's going on?" Dorothy asked looking worried.

"Our parents have vanished." Ellie said shakily.

The worried Dorothy, no one was supposed to leave the emerald city or outside its protection. She walked over to Glinda.

"Glinda, do you think they left?" Dorothy asked.

"No they wouldn't do that, not after I warned them that outside of the emerald city they would be in danger." Glinda said flicking the crystal ball.

"No sign of them in the business district." Came the tin man walking in.

"No sign of them in the storage areas." Came the voice of the scarecrow walking in followed by the lion.

"No sign in the towers either." He said.

Dorothy was really worried now, she ran out of the chambers and walked outside down towards the docks. She looked at the sky and shouted.

"I know you're watching!" she shouted.

Ellie came out and walked over to Dorothy, she placed a hand on Dorothy's shoulder.

"Dorothy what are you doing?" she asked.

"Calling the jester." Dorothy said.

"But how can you be sure he's watching?" Ellie asked.

It didn't take long for her to get an answer. The clouds began to swirl and reform. They then rushed together and instantly took form of the jester.

"You called!?" he said teasingly.

"What did you do with Mr. and Mrs. Upland?" Dorothy asked.

"Oh them? nothing much, I was just about to turn them into statues." The jester said as mist formed around them.

The mist showed the image of a dungeon Mr. and Mrs. Upland chained to a wall. Unlike Dorothy's aunt and Uncle they were standing and not slumped down against the wall.

"Let them go! They don't have anything to do with you!" Ellie screamed.

"They helped Dorothy so they are a threat to me!" the jester yelled back.

"How did you capture them?" Dorothy asked.

"Oh that was easy, the flying monkeys and I can't get into the emerald city, but that doesn't stop my magic, no spell is large enough to protect the entire emerald city from my magic!" the jester said as Glinda appeared next to Dorothy.

"You let my parents go!" Glinda said pointing her wand at the image of the jester.

"Ah, just the person I was looking for, now that I know exactly where you are I can do this." The jester said waving the wand in his hand.

In a flash Glinda vanished, she appeared in the cell next to her parents now chained to the wall.

"NO!" Ellie screamed looking scared.

"I will take every one of your friends, until YOU FACE ME DOROTHY GALE!" the jester yelled, he then appeared next to Glinda in the mist.

"Don't you dare!"Ellie scream.

Everyone else had just run out of the emerald city and saw the images, Alyssa and Elena ran up to Ellie. The jester raised the wand and pointed it at Glinda and her parents.

"Until this girl faces me alone, have her friends turn to SOLID STONE!" the jester said,

Once again the wand emitted a purple wisp of smoke which surrounded Glinda and her parents. Dorothy embraced Ellie and put a hand over her eyes. Just then the screams of Glinda and her parents echoed across the emerald city, making Dorothy close her own eyes. When the screaming had stopped she opened her eyes once more. She was confronted with a sight that made her feel sick. Glinda and Mr., and Mrs. Upland turned into white marble statues just like her aunt and uncle had been.

"If you're powerful enough to take them out of the emerald city with magic then why don't you just capture me yourself?" Dorothy asked starting to tear up.

"Because it's my little game, I will pick off your little friends one by one until you find me." The jester said laughing.

Ellie finally managed to break out of her comrades grasps, when she saw what had happened to her family she screamed and looked at Dorothy in a look of anger.

"This IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She screamed, running back into the emerald city.

"Oh good I just turned one of your friends against you." The jester said laughing. Just then he vanished and the mist cleared.

Dorothy stood there, frozen. If she stayed in the emerald city no one was safe. The jester would pick off her friends one by one like he said. She already had Ellie mad at her. She didn't want to lose anyone else.

"Dorothy?" Elena asked not even daring to approach.

"Yea?" she asked about ready to burst into tears again.

"Ellie didn't mean it, she's just upset just like you were when he did that to your aunt and uncle." Alyssa said.

"But now she's mad at me." Dorothy said.

"She just needs to cool down and cry for a while, just like you needed to be alone for a while." Elena replied.

Dorothy didn't respond this time she just walked back towards the city, pushing past her friends who were all petrified at what they had just witnessed. Dorothy looked down to find Toto following at her heels. She soon arrived back at her room. She went over to the side table next to her bed and tried to open the drawer she had put the book and the orb into. It was still locked, she tried using her key. It didn't fit. She tried prying it open, that didn't work. She tried snapping her fingers, that didn't work either. Then she thought of something, she knocked on it, and it opened instantly. She pulled out the orb and set it down on the table top, she then pulled out the book and the small spell book Glinda had given her.

She put the large book back in the drawer and shut it. She then opened the little book and skimmed through it. She found many odd symbols and incantations meant to do different things. She also found writing in the last few pages. One of them in Glinda's hand writing this she read aloud.

"No one is ever alone." Dorothy read to herself, she then noticed at the bottom there was note that listed a page number.

She flipped to the page, it had an odd symbol in the middle of it. But at the top it read, _spells and incantations to protect loved ones._ Dorothy read through this and then got up to look for Alison. This didn't really take long because she almost instantly ran into her. She showed Alison the page in the book.

"Spells and incantations to protect loved ones? I don't know dorothy, seems risky this is all really old magic." Alison said looking through her own version of the book.

"We should at least try it."Dorothy said.

"What do you mean we? You've never done magic." Alison said.

"Then you need to try it, I don't want anyone else getting hurt." Dorothy said running towards Glinda's room.

When she got there she found Ellie sitting in an armchair crying her legs pulled up to her chest and her head resting in the gap between her head and her legs. Dorothy walked over and placed a hand on Ellie's shoulder. She looked up and pushed Dorothy away.

"You've down enough damage, go away." Ellie said through tears.

**Any guesses as to why Dorothy went to Glinda's room? Or why I had Glinda captured? Well that's more or less to add suspense but the first question will be answered in the next chapter**


	5. Regret,retrieval, and exploration

**Disclaimer, all rightful ownerships go to their proper owners.**

Dorothy didn't want to bother Ellie at the moment so she got up and walked over towards the back of the room. There was a large painting of Glinda herself. Below it was a chest. Dorothy knocked on it a few times and it opened. The contents of the chest weren't much, a few books and another glass orb filled with smoke but this wasn't to interesting and not what she needed. She thought for a moment and began to wonder. She then left Glinda's room, she couldn't stand to hear Ellie crying. She was going to put things right, even if she had to disobey her friends and break a promise to do it. She was going to go the castle in the west.

She walked out of the emerald city, Toto followed at her heels. When she got to the docks she was greeted by tugg.

"Hello miss Dorothy here to have some conversation?" Tugg asked.

"No tugg, I want you to bring me to the witch's castle" Dorothy said.

"But Glinda ordered me not to take you away from the city." Tugg said.

"Tugg please don't argue just take me there." Dorothy said.

Tugg looked at her sadly, he witnessed like everyone else what happened to Glinda. As Dorothy got on he started off towards the cave. When they reached it they found the cave illuminated not by fireflies but by little pink gas lamps that had been placed there. This time he took the fork on the left which he now knew would take them towards the castle, this path was also lit by the same oil lamps. When they emerged from the cave they were all confronted by the purple sky of the west. Tugg docked himself at the most sturdy looking dock and allowed Dorothy to disembark.

"Be careful my dear." Tugg said.

Dorothy nodded and walked towards the castle. When she got to it she found that the doors were already ajar. She heard Toto whimper and looked down at him.

"If you're scared you can go back." Dorothy said looking at her companion.

Toto barked and made the bravest face he could.

"Well then it's settled." Dorothy said pushing the door open the rest of the way.

She found herself back in the main hall where she had seen her friends captured, but in the middle of the room she saw the scepter. It was hovering there, surrounded by what looked like a bubble. Dorothy walked over to it and reached her hand out to touch it when she heard someone cough. She looked around panicked until her gaze fell on the corner of the room, the jester was sitting there, just casually holding a cup of tea in his hand, and he sipped it and set it down on the table next to him and crossed his left leg over his right. Toto barked at him and he glared back causing Toto to shrink back whimpering

"So, the pigtailed farm brat returns to the scene of the crime does she?" the jester asked.

"What are you doing here?" Dorothy asked glaring at him.

"I knew you would return here the scepter, or rather the broomstick, was hidden here by Glinda." The jester replied smiling widely.

"Then why didn't you take it?" Dorothy asked gesturing to it.

"Two reasons, one is because I can't the other is, where would be the fun?" he said getting up and doing a cartwheel.

"Well you have me then, do what you want, just stop hurting my friends." Dorothy said.

"Ha I'm not going to dispose of you now, the game is just beginning." The jester said doing some summersaults in a circle around Dorothy

"Then why did you come here?" Dorothy as she watched the jester tumble around.

"I'm a jester, who says I need a reason to do something?" the jester asked dismounting and cackling.

Just then the doors burst open and the scarecrow, Alison, and Ellie ran in, when Ellie saw the jester she shot him a look of pure venom. He laughed and vanished, as did the cup of tea.

"That was." Alison said speechless.

"yep." Dorothy said placing her hand against the bubble, which burst causing the scepter to fall into her grasp.

"Dorothy, you promised you wouldn't leave the city." The scarecrow said running over to her.

"Scarecrow I'm fine, how did you guys get here anyways?" she asked.

"We'll explain later, that's beside the point, Dorothy you could have been captured, the jester could have destroyed you on the spot." The scarecrow said gesturing to where the jester had been standing.

"But he didn't, he said this was part of his game, he knew I would come here at some point looking for the scepter." Dorothy said holding it up.

Ellie looked at the scepter, then at Dorothy, she then began to feel regret. Dorothy had risked her own life coming here to try and put things right. She ran over to Dorothy and embraced her, crying.

"Dorothy, I'm sorry." Ellie said.

"Ellie, it's okay, you were upset, I know how you felt." Dorothy said embracing Ellie.

Toto barked at them, hoping to get out of there as quickly as possible. After a while they broke from the embrace and they went back to tugg. Who greeted them, as they embarked back to the emerald city Ellie looked at Dorothy worriedly.

"Why did you leave the city?" Ellie asked

"Ellie it wouldn't have mattered." Dorothy said.

"It does to me." Ellie said.

"And it does to us." The scarecrow said.

Ellie then embraced Dorothy and began to cry again. Dorothy rubber her hand on Ellie's back.

"Dorothy?" Ellie asked.

"Yes Ellie?" Dorothy asked.

"Promise me, that you won't do something like this again." Ellie said looking at her.

"Ellie, I promise." Dorothy replied.

"Dorothy, you already broke your promise to us." The scarecrow said walking over.

Dorothy looked at them and stood up. Ellie looked at her sadly. Dorothy took her hand and crossed her heart.

"I promise I won't do this again." Dorothy said.

No one said a word at this point. Dorothy picked up Toto who licked her on the face again making her giggle. Soon they were docked back at the emerald city and walking back to the throne room. When they got in every one sighed a sigh of relief.

"Where did you find her?" Alyssa asked.

"At the witch's castle, she went to retrieve the scepter, and the jester was there as well." Alison said.

"Dorothy, what you did was really dangerous, even for you." The china princess said sternly.

"I know, but I needed to get the scepter, I need to put things right." Dorothy said.

It took her a while to explain her actions, but she couldn't justify leaving without telling them.

_Meanwhile at the jester's hiding place_

Looking at the scene in a crystal ball he made he waved the wand and the statues appeared in front of him.

"Soon another of your number will join you, but who will it be?" the jester asked himself chuckling.

"Dorothy please just don't do it again." Came Ellie's voice from the crystal ball

"Well you my little flower, shall be last, because if I take you, she'll follow." He said laughing.

He then walked over to a newly set up chess board and moved the first pawn in front of the king.

"So Dorothy gale, let our little game BEGIN!" he said cackling.

_Later in the emerald city_

Dorothy had returned to her room with Toto after having an argument with her friends about what the right action really was. She had taken the scepter with her in hopes that she could figure out how to use it. She didn't even know how to get it to work in the first place, all she did managed to get to do is hover in the air by telling it to float. Even then that wasn't much of an accomplishment.

"Ugh how will I get this to work?" Dorothy asked herself frustrated.

Toto merely barked at her and then tried to jump on the floating scepter missing by a few inches and hitting the ground in a daze.

"Well, I see your keeping your self-amused." Dorothy said giggling.

She plucked the scepter out of the air and walked over to her bed. She sat down on it and leaned the scepter against it. She then pulled her boots off and picked up the crystal orb and held it. She felt the sense of peace and tranquility pass over her. She then set the orb down and got up. She couldn't leave the scepter in her room, not alone. She picked it up and walked out of her room. She went towards Glinda's room. When she got there she found Ellie, who was sitting at the table that the crystal ball normally sat on. She saw Dorothy and smiled weakly.

"Hey." Ellie said.

"Hi, how you feeling?" Dorothy asked.

"Better, did you figure out how to work that thing?" Ellie asked gesturing to the scepter.

"Not really, I mean watch." Dorothy said holding it up, "Hover" she said letting it go and smiling as it hovered there.

"Nice, so pretty useless?" Ellie asked

"Yep, pretty much." Dorothy said.

"What are you going to do?" Ellie asked smiling.

"Explore around the city a little I guess." Dorothy said.

"Can I come?" Ellie asked getting up.

"sure." Dorothy said.

"Where to?" Ellie asked walking over.

"I don't know, I was thinking the business district, the last time I was there was during my first visit, and I didn't see much of it." Dorothy said plucking the scepter out of the air.

"Shouldn't you get your boots?" Ellie asked looking at her feet.

"Good point." Dorothy said turning around and walking out.

They both went back to her room, when they got there Dorothy picked up her key and hung it around her neck. She then sat down on the bed and put on her boots. She then picked the scepter again and walked back to door with Toto following closely at her heels. She locked the door and shut it behind them.

"Do you know anything about the business district?" Dorothy asked Ellie, who in turn pulled out a map.

"Um its where all the stores and what not are." Ellie said.

"Like what, the only time I was in the business district I was freshening up before seeing the wizard." Dorothy said.

"um well having only been to the business district once, I know that after you left they added a second dress Shop and an ice cream parlor, I also know that there are some nice stores." Ellie said.

"Hm, do you think that we could find someone to repair this?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"Well it is a broom stick, couldn't you ask the scarecrow or someone to repair it?" Ellie asked as they walked along.

"Um, I guess, let's see the scarecrow, before we go to the business district." Dorothy said.

So they walked to the throne room. When they got there they found the scarecrow sitting on the throne staring sadly at the crystal ball which had gone dark. He turned and noticed Dorothy and Ellie.

"Hey kiddo what do you need?" he asked looking at Dorothy.

"Could you possibly fix the broom part of this?" Dorothy asked holding up the scepter.

"Sure kiddo, but why?" he asked.

"Well Ellie and I are headed to the business district and I can't get it to work so I might as well restore it." Dorothy said.

The scarecrow smiled and jumped off the throne.

"If you're heading to the business district you should stop by the new ice cream parlor, Brianna told me she got a job there and that the ice cream is pretty good, now I can't eat so I can't judge." The scarecrow said as Dorothy handed him the scepter.

"Oh, I forgot about that." Ellie said.

"How do you forget your comrade getting a job?" Dorothy asked.

"I've been busy." Ellie said

"Good point, Scarecrow, I'll be back to pick up the broom later." Dorothy said as the both walked out.

After a while they managed to get to the business district by following Ellie's map. Toto barked when he saw Brianna polishing the sign to the ice cream parlor, she was now wearing a red and white striped apron and had her hair tied back under a hair net.

"Brianna!" Ellie yelled waving.

Brianna looked around for the source of her name and saw Dorothy and Ellie then waved back, she then waved for them to come over.

"So what brings you two down to the business district?" Brianna asked.

"Interest mostly, are you open?" Dorothy asked.

"Yep, just opened about…um" Brianna said looking for clock, finding one she squinted "about twenty minutes now." She said.

"oh." Ellie said giggling

"So come in and ill serve you two." Brianna said opening the door to the parlor.

It was chilly in there, but that was understandable for an ice cream parlor. It was a rather large building almost like a restaurant. When they got to the counter Brianna gestured to their little menu of flavors which ranged from plain vanilla to various fruits that could be found in Oz, only two of which she had before.

"Wow that's a lot of options." Ellie said, "how does your boss managed to keep up with everyone's tastes?" she adds.

"She makes a list of popular flavors and does a survey." Brianna said smiling.

Dorothy looked at the menu, she noticed peach, which at the moment didn't sound bad. But she saw there were also other flavors that she liked. Toto then barked as if trying to say 'Make a decision'

Dorothy looked down at her little dog and smiled. She then decided on chocolate.

"I'll have chocolate." Dorothy said handing the menu to Ellie.

"same." Ellie said.

"Okay then two chocolates, on the house." Brianna said seeing Ellie take out a small coin purse.

"Are you sure? Wont your boss get mad?" Ellie asked

"No, I'm sure she isn't minding a bit." Brianna said scooping ice cream into two cups.

"Who owns this place anyways?" Dorothy asked looking around.

"You really don't get it do you?" Brianna asked sighing.

"What?" Dorothy asked as she took a cup from Brianna.

"I own this place." Brianna said.

This made them both gasp.

"But Brianna how?" Ellie asked.

"I happen to be friends with the original owners." Brianna said.

"And who are they?" Dorothy asked.

She didn't have to wait long for an answer, because the door opened and two adults, a man and a women walked in. the women was wearing a candy colored dress that looked nice on her. Her hair was similar in color to Brianna's albeit a bit greyer but similar. The man was wearing a similar candy colored suit and was bald, his eyes were the same color as Brianna's. He looked at Ellie and waved. He then looked at Dorothy and was wondering who this stranger was, here so early in the morning.

"Mr. and Mrs. Shive? You own this ice cream parlor?" Ellie asked surprised.

"Yes Ellie, well technically Brianna owns this place now." Mr. Shive said smiling

"Hi mom, hi dad, the usual?" Brianna asked.

Toto then barked curiously and looked at the couple sideways.

"I thought we agreed no pets allowed, and who's this stranger?" Mrs. Shive asked

"Oh, right introductions." Brianna said coming out from behind the counter, "mom, dad, this is Dorothy gale." She said gesturing towards her.

Both of Brianna's parents went wide eyed as their jaws dropped. Dorothy waved and sat down.

"It's a pleasure to meet you at last miss gale." Mr. Shive said walking over and offering her a hand.

Dorothy shook it and smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Shive, and you too Mrs. Shive." Dorothy said nodding in her direction.

"You gave them ice cream on the house right?" Mrs. Shive asked her daughter

"Yes mom, Dorothy's my friend." Brianna said, "And I don't think she wants publicity at the moment, so don't go shouting down the street that she's here, anyways you heard what the jester did to Glinda, and anyone associated with her is in danger." She added.

"Well then, that seems like a good idea." Mr. Shive said.

"Anyways we aren't staying, so make those to go." Mrs. Shive said.

"Where you guys headed?" Brianna asked taking out to go cups

"home." They both said in unison.

"We just dropped by to check on you." Mrs. Shive said.

"You guys do this all the time, you act like if you don't constantly check on me this place is going to just vanish." Brianna said.

"Dorothy?" Ellie asked taking a spoonful of ice cream

"Yea?" Dorothy asked in a toneless voice as she watching things unfold between Brianna and her parents.

"We should probably go, I've seen Brianna arguing with her parents, they have 'artistic differences'." Ellie said watching.

"No Ellie, don't worry, mom, dad. Here are your orders please leave." Brianna said.

Her father nodded and took the take out cups. He nodded at his wife and they both walked out. Just then Dorothy finished her ice cream, she then got up, and handed the cup and spoon back to Brianna.

"Thanks Brianna." Dorothy said.

"Anytime, Dorothy, you too Ellie." Brianna said.

Toto then barked not liking being left out.

"Oh and you too Toto." Brianna said giggling.

They all laughed about this for a minute, then Dorothy, Ellie, and Toto walked out. They then went towards the town square. They spent the entire day well into the afternoon. They had lunch at a nice sandwich shop and then returned to Brianna's ice-cream parlor where they found the lion enjoying a large bowl of peach ice cream.

"So, how was your day?" the lion asked looking at them

"Quite nice, actually, luckily my popularity has gone down since the wedding." Dorothy said with a sigh.

"Yea, that and people are afraid of being associated with you." Ellie said.

"That helped a bit too." Dorothy said.

"We did however have a rather nice lunch." Ellie said smiling.

"Where'd you go?" Brianna asked.

"That nice sandwich strop a short ways down the street." Ellie said.

"Ah, Eddie's?" Brianna asked.

"That's the place." Dorothy said

"Ah I know Eddie, did you meet him?" Brianna asked

"He served us personally, and didn't charge us, I let a tip anyways." Ellie said.

"I told him to keep an eye out for you." Brianna said.

"Oh thanks, you're closing for the day then I see?" Ellie said

"Yep. Tomorrow I'll open again in the morning." Brianna said.

"That's nice." Dorothy said walking over to the table the lion was sitting and sitting down, Toto jumped onto her lap.

"I like the sundress dorothy." the lion said.

"So do I, but I've been wearing it since earlier this morning." Dorothy said.

"I know, I've just tried to start a conversation." The lion said making them all laugh.

Brianna took off her apron and placed it on the counter. She then went to the door and changed the open sign to closed. She then went back over to the counter.

"You guys want anything before I lock up?" Brianna asked.

"Um, Dorothy you want anything?" Ellie asked.

"Hey lion how's the peach ice cream?" Dorothy asked.

"It's peachy." The lion said chuckling at his own joke, "it's good." He finally said when he realized no one else was laughing.

"Well let's get a bowl of peach ice cream then." Dorothy said Ellie nodded

Brianna nodded as well and Dorothy getting up, she then grabbed three spoons from the counter.

"Join us." Ellie said to Brianna.

"So we're sharing then?" Brianna asked coming round the counter with a bowl the same size as the lions and piled with peach ice cream.

"yep." Dorothy said as they joined the lion at the table.

Toto jumped back onto Dorothy's lap and barked. Dorothy took a spoonful of ice cream and gave it to him. He licked it up and barked.

"Well Toto likes it." Dorothy said wiping off the spoon and taking a spoonful herself.

"Where'd you get the recipe for ice cream Brianna?" Ellie asked.

"The scarecrow found them, the wizard left a lot of stuff behind" Brianna said smiling.

"That's good, I have him fixing the broom, I mean the scepter turning it back into a broom." Dorothy said.

"Why?" the lion asked finishing off his ice cream.

"Because all I can get it to do is fly, I never asked how to use It." Dorothy said.

"Fair enough." He said wiping his face with the back of his paw.

They chatted about various other topics for a while. When they finished their ice cream Brianna took the bowl and spoons to the back and placed them in a slot. They then all left the parlor as Brianna locked up. Dorothy asked them to wait a minute.

"What is it Dorothy?" The lion asked as Dorothy sat in a chair.

"My feet hurt a bit." Dorothy said, about to pull off one of her boots.

She didn't have time to do this because she was picked up by the lion.

"I could carry you if you'd like." The lion offered.

She looked at her friend.

"Sure lion." Dorothy said. Toto barked

Lion picked up Toto and set him and Dorothy on his shoulder. They walked all the way to the throne room. When then entered Dorothy was set down by the lion.

"Thank you lion." Dorothy said sitting on the floor and pulling off her boots.

"No problem kid." The lion said.

Dorothy smiled and stood up, boots in one hand, she walked to the scarecrows workshop, and she found broom straws all over the floor and the scarecrow trying to re-straw the broom like someone trying to thread a needle.

"Oh Dorothy, I'm sorry kiddo, I just can't fix this, but a flying scepter isn't bad is it?" he asked.

"No problem scarecrow, toss it here." Dorothy said holding out her hand.

The scarecrow tossed it to her, it didn't hesitate to fly directly to her hand, and she caught it but immediately dropped it. Shaking her hand she winced in pain.

"What happened kiddo?" the scarecrow asked concerned.

"It flew into my hand, and it struck pretty hard." Dorothy said picking it up.

"Oh, I'm sorry I threw it too hard." The scarecrow said.

"You didn't scarecrow, it was the scepter itself." Dorothy then held it out in front of her and said "hover." Letting go of it, it floated there for moment.

Dorothy pushed down on it. It floated in that position now.

"Heh, that's pretty neat kiddo, it's a start." The scarecrow said.

Then it dawned on Dorothy.

"The witch used its power as a broom stick, until she burned off the straws, then it could only be used as a scepter." Dorothy said.

"So?" the scarecrow asked.

"Scarecrow would it be possible for you to make me a clear crystal orb? You know similar to the one the jester used?" Dorothy asked.

"Sure kiddo, but why." The scarecrow asked.

"You'll see." Dorothy said plucking the scepter out of the air then walking out.

"He couldn't fix it?" Ellie asked.

"No, so I'm having him make me an orb similar to the one the jester used." Dorothy said pointing at the curtain to the scarecrows workshop.

She hoped that the magic responded that way and the curtains would open, the did not.

"Well dorothy, do you think it could support your weight while it's hovering?" Brianna asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Dorothy said putting down her boots and holding out the scepter.

The held it in front of her for a minute before she said, "hover." She then let go of it. It floated there. Dorothy then tried to climb onto it. Surprisingly it did support her.

"neat." Brianna said with a gasp.

Toto barked, as if to say, 'what are you doing?' he then proceeded to try and jump up on the scepter with Dorothy.

"Ellie can you hold Toto?" Dorothy asked.

"Sure but why?" Ellie asked looking at her curiously.

"Just watch, I want to try something." Dorothy said.

"I'm not going to try and argue." The lion said intrigued.

Dorothy leaned into the scepter and braced herself.

"To my bedroom, fly!" Dorothy said.

The scepter lurched forward and carried Dorothy out of the chambers. It then made all the necessary maneuvers and eventually arrived at her bed room door. She then got off it and plucked it from the air. Ellie then ran up to her, Toto barking in her wake.

"Dorothy, that was cool." Ellie said.

"I know, I don't think I'm going to do it often though." Dorothy said chuckling.

They all laughed at this, then the lion came over carrying Dorothy's boots.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked." The lion said panting.

"Neither can I, I was just giving it a command and hoped for the best." Dorothy said.

"Well, then, I'll leave you two." The lion said handing Dorothy's boots to Ellie.

Dorothy then took out her key and unlocked the door. As she walked in she leaned the scepter against the wall she then took her boots from Ellie. She walked over to her bed and sat down on it. Picking the orb up from her bedside table she felt the wave of tranquility pass over she then put it back down and sighed looking at Ellie smiling. Ellie smiled back and giggled a bit.

"Well dorothy, I'm going to head back to my sister's room." Ellie said looking a little sad.

Dorothy looked at Ellie sadly and frowned a bit. She nodded and picked up Toto who had walked into the room. Ellie smiled weakly and walked off.

"Toto, there has to be a way to go against the jester, we may not even get the scepter to work for us." Dorothy said sighing and lying back on the bed.

"Dorothy?" came the voice of the tin man.

Dorothy looked up and saw the Tin Man standing in the door way, eyeing the scepter nervously.

"Oh hey tin man, did you want something?" Dorothy asked sitting up.

"I was wondering if you'd seen Alyssa." The tin man asked.

**Well this seems like a good place to end it off for now, did Alyssa find herself victim to the jester? Or did she just pop off for a quick meal some where?**


	6. Turned against her

**Disclaimer, I don't own the film, character, etc.**

Dorothy looked at the Tin man worried and giggled.

"Did you check the pool?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, actually, Elena is really worried." The tin man said, his voice going from questioning to worrying.

Dorothy looked at him worried. She hoped she was wrong at what she thought.

"You don't think?" Dorothy asked.

"I hope not but we should wait it out this time." The tin man said walking off.

Dorothy looked at Toto and sighed. It was her fault that people were getting hurt, if it happened again she was going to find the jester. No matter what it took, she got up and walked to the scepter. She picked it up and walked out of her room, Toto followed at her heels. She walked to the chambers where she found everyone waiting for her.

"So no one could find her?" Dorothy asked.

"No, and Elena's a mess." Caitlyn said

The scarecrow then walked over to her and produced a pink crystal orb. Dorothy took it and flipped over the scepter to where the broom straws were and placed it on the top of the metal holder and the left over broom straw. It glowed for a bit then went dark. Dorothy waved it at the window hoping the shutters would close. They didn't, she sighed in defeat.

"I'll never figure out how to work this thing." Dorothy said walking over to Elena who was on the verge of tears.

When Elena saw Dorothy she looked away.

"If my sister becomes one of his statues." She started to say but she couldn't make herself say it she burst into crying.

Dorothy looked at her and sighed. She hoped that Alyssa was out there. Not captured by the jester.

_Meanwhile, somewhere else in oz._

The jester had ridden his unicycle down the stairwell to the main chambers of his new castle. In the main chambers was a girl tied to a chair struggling to get free. When she saw the jester she froze with fear.

"So, we met at last." Alyssa said.

"Yes my dear, and you're going to tell me what I want to know." The jester said taking the wand and poking her in the forehead.

"That depends on what you want to know." Alyssa said spitting at the jester.

The jester wiped the spit from his face.

"The girl, Dorothy, I'm getting to her through you guys, picking each of you off one by one." The jester said smiling wickedly

"We know that, after you turned Glinda into stone you revealed your game." Alyssa said shooting him a look of pure venom.

"Yes, but I want to know how to get to her through her weaknesses, any day now she could discover this castle and I want to be ready." The jester said

Unknown to the jester, Alyssa had been cutting away at her bonds. She would break free in a minute if she could stall the jester long enough to escape.

"So, you can travel between the two castles, but you can't leave the castles without being detected?" Alyssa asked.

"No distractions, answer the question, DOES SHE HAVE A WEAKNESS." He yelled jabbing the wand farther into her forehead.

She winced in pain, she felt something surge through her body, and she wouldn't be able to hold back the truth she felt the words forming in her mouth.

"Oho, you know something!" the Jester said laughing.

"Ellie!" she screamed out.

"Ah the little girl." The jester said smiling

"Dorothy and Ellie have a bond, if you want Dorothy you need to use Ellie." Alyssa said tearing up.

"I figured as much, now then." He said taking the wand out of her forehead he brandished it like a baton.

The ropes that bound Alyssa finally broke, she slapped the jesters hand and he let go of the wand mid-flourish. It rolled off along the floor. Alyssa then untied her legs from the chair and dove for the wand. She got it and ran, the jester chased after her.

"Come on how would Glinda do this?" she asked pointing the wand at the jester.

A picture that was on the wall flew off and fell in front of the jester, tripping him. She laughed as he tumbled a few times knocking over a tea table in his wake. She knew that when she left the castle she would not be followed be she also knew she could not return to the emerald city unless she knew where she was.

"Well then, soldier girl, flee from your fight, but I will find a way to find you, that is only part of my sister's magic." The jester said laughing and whipping off his current costume. He then pulled another wand from his sleeve, this one was twisted and gnarled like a vine.

She stopped frozen for a second and continued to run, when she saw the door she picked up her speed when she heard the jester shout.

"Until the girl faces me alone, may her friend be SOLID STONE" he said as the wisp of smoke came out and surrounded Alyssa.

"NO!" she said trying to outrun it.

The smoke surrounded her. She felt pain as the stone crawled up her body. She screamed in pain and terror dropping the wand. And then nothing.

"I always love a good challenge." The jester said getting up and dusting himself off, he walked over to the wand and picked it up flicking the statue of Alyssa and laughing.

"So, I will have to use the child to get to the girl." The jester said smiling.

"Well then, I'll have to lay a trap for the girl and find if she has other weaknesses." He said laughing.

_That night in the emerald city._

The scepter began to glow again rather faintly but noticeable. Dorothy walked over to it and looked into the orb. She touched it with her hand and it showed the jester laughing. Her face fell with sadness and anger. She knew the jester had gotten Alyssa. A tear rolled down her face, she knew Alyssa went down with a fight. She felt sorry for Elena, she felt afraid as well. Any of her friend could be next. As she lied down on her bed and closed her eyes, letting the scepter lean against her bed. She felt a kiss on her cheek once more before she fell asleep.

The next morning Dorothy awoke before the sun could rise. She walked to the closet and grabbed a light emerald green sundress. She then walked into the bathroom and changed into it. She emerged moments later to find ellie sitting on her bed, she was wearing the usual blue dress she liked so much, as well as the blue dress shoes and those frilly white dress socks. She had a look of sadness on her face as well. She was petting Toto with one hand, and the scepter in the other, its glow had all but stopped, it was now dark and inert.

"Ellie?" Dorothy asked.

"The jester contacted us in his usual way, he wasn't looking for you this time, and he was delivering a warning to us." Ellie said.

"But, why wasn't I awoken!?" she asked concerned.

"He made sure you wouldn't know unless we told you." Ellie said on the verge of tears, "He got Alyssa." She added crying.

Dorothy walked over to ellie and took the scepter from her. She leaned forward and hugged ellie tight.

"Ellie, what did he say to you guys?" Dorothy asked wiping a tear from Ellie's face.

"He told us to stay away from you, and that he would take us all out one by one, Dorothy I'm scared." Ellie said hugging her back.

"Ellie don't worry, I'll protect you in any way I can." Dorothy said kissing ellie on the cheek.

Ellie broke from the embrace and looked at Dorothy.

"Dorothy, I wouldn't talk to the other girls for a while." Ellie said in a warning tone.

"Why?" Dorothy asked.

"You lost our leader, and they are upset, Elena the most." Ellie said.

"Ellie, I…" Dorothy started to say but ellie shushed her.

"Dorothy, please don't argue, we should go find the jester ourselves." Ellie said.

Dorothy looked at Ellie with a look of shock.

"Ellie no! The jester wants me, not you." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, you are not leaving the emerald city alone." Ellie said.

"Ellie, your still a child." Dorothy said as Toto barked.

"So are you." Ellie said.

"Ellie, we aren't going to fight the jester now anyways, I haven't got a plan." Dorothy said

"Well, you've improvised in the past." Ellie said.

"Ellie, for the last time and for your protection the answer is no!" Dorothy said taking Ellie's chin in her hand.

"Fine, but you need to search for him." Ellie said taking off one of her dress shoes and handing it to Toto.

Dorothy grabbed Ellie's other foot and pulled the shoe off playfully holding it just out of reach and then standing up.

"Dorothy, no fair" Ellie said standing up on the bed trying to reach.

Dorothy giggle and handed it back to her. Instead of putting it on she handed it to Toto who started toying with them. Dorothy then took the scepter and put it in her closet and shut the door. She then tried her key in it. After finding that it worked in the lock she locked she walked over to Ellie and sat next to her on the bed.

"So, the other girls are upset with me then?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, we are." Came the voice of Elena.

Elena had been standing in the doorway for standing there for a few seconds. She had tears in her eyes, she had seen Ellie talking to Dorothy.

"Oh, hey Elena, I didn't see you." Dorothy said looking over at the door

"Shut up! you caused my sister to be turned to stone, in my eyes that makes you the enemy." Elena said, her face going red with anger.

"Elena, please calm down." Ellie said in a scared tone.

"Shut up, you are conversing with the enemy." Elena said causing Ellie to flinch back

This made Dorothy mad, she didn't like seeing Ellie upset. She shot back in defense.

"Hey, you can take your anger out on me but leave Ellie alone." Dorothy said walking up to Elena.

"Don't you dare get and closer?" Elena said drawing a sword

There was then a loud bang from the closet, they all looked at it wide eye. The door began to give. Dorothy took off her key and threw it to Ellie who unlocked it opening it the scepter flew out. It directed its attention at Elena. It flew at her with a speed equal to them running and clashed against her sword. She held it against the scepter, but her grasp began to weaken.

"Stop this!" Elena yelled.

"I don't know how, it's never done this before." Dorothy said worriedly.

"Dorothy try commanding it." Ellie said.

Dorothy didn't know if it would work but she was a little desperate.

"Down, desist, STOP!" Dorothy yelled.

The scepter didn't back off, Dorothy grabbed onto it trying to pull it away. It put up resistance it was trying to defend its mistress. Toto jumped off the bed and barked at the scepter. Dorothy then had a thought.

"Elena drop the sword." Dorothy and Ellie said in unison.

Dorothy looked at Ellie in surprise. She then looked back at Elena she shed a tear and dropped the sword, the scepter then stopped, making Dorothy fall to the side. Dorothy then picked up Elena's sword and handed it back to her. She took it and ran.

"The scepter was defending you?" Ellie asked.

"I think so, it seems to know what it's doing, but the scepter answers to me being in trouble." Dorothy said, "You should probably go Ellie, pretend your against me, keep your comrades I'll be fine." She added tearing up.

"Dorothy, no…" Ellie started to say before Dorothy cut her off.

"Ellie that's an order." Dorothy said turning to her.

Dorothy walked over to Ellie and took the key from her. She then went back to the closet she set the scepter against the wall. She waited for a few minutes before turning around. She knew that Ellie would never go against orders. Toto barked a few times and Dorothy turned around.

"no." Ellie said.

"What?" Dorothy asked turning around and facing Ellie.

"I said no, Dorothy I won't abandon you." Ellie said.

"Ellie, your comrades are already against me, don't turn them against yourself." Dorothy said, "Please, for me?" she asked hopefully.

Ellie looked at Dorothy and started to tear up. She looked at Dorothy and saluted. She grabbed her dress shoes from the bed and pulled them on. She ran out with tears in her eyes. Dorothy began to tear up as well. She walked into the closet and pulled out the silver flats and a pair of light green dress socks. Pulling them on her then slid into the flats and walked out of the closet. Shutting the closet door and locking it she put the key back around her neck. She then looked around the room for a few minutes and sighed. She then walked out, Toto following at her heels. Shutting the door and locking it she walked next door to the china princess's room, she found it open and, the china princess was sitting there waiting for her.

"I heard what happened." The princess said offering her a seat.

Dorothy nodded and walked in.

"Dorothy, that was a really brave thing you did." The china princess said.

"Thanks, I wish I didn't have to send Ellie away." Dorothy said wiping a tear from her cheek.

"I saw Ellie a few minutes ago, she told me what happened." The princess said, "like I said that was a brave thing you did." She added.

I wish…" Dorothy started to say before choking back some tears.

"I know" the china princess said looking at Dorothy sadly.

Dorothy nodded and got up. She then walked out and back to her room. Unlocking her door she walked back in and slipped off the flats, Toto barked and ran to the bed. Dorothy began to feel sick as she lie down on the bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

**Well then, this chapter escalated quickly**


	7. And then there were three

**Disclaimer, I don't own the characters, films, etc.**

Dorothy awoke again a few hours later, she had missed breakfast, but she didn't care at this point. She got up and unlocked her closet. Opening it she picked up the scepter and sliding on the flats she walked out of her room. Toto following at her heels. She immediately walked into marshal mallow and the lion.

"Dorothy, we were worried, you missed breakfast." Marshal mallow said.

"The only one who seemed really concerned was Ellie, she told us what happened between you and Elena." The lion said.

Marshal mallow then handed Dorothy an apple. She took it and took a bite.

"I sent Ellie away, not just for her protection, but so she wouldn't be an outcast." Dorothy said starting to tear up.

The princess then came out of her room. She was now the same height as her husband. She walked over to Dorothy and hugged her. Dorothy returned the embrace, she smiled.

"Dorothy, I'm sorry." The china princess said.

"I know, thank you princess." Dorothy said breaking from the embrace she began to tear up.

The scarecrow and the tin man then walked up, the scarecrow placed a hand on Dorothy's shoulder.

"Dorothy, are you okay?" the scarecrow asked.

"We just found out what happened." The tin man said.

"I'm a little upset, but I'm fine." Dorothy said wiping her eyes, Toto barked at her.

"Dorothy." the tin man said trying to get Dorothy to tell them what she was really feeling.

Dorothy looked at her friends and smiled.

"Guys really I'm fine." Dorothy said walking around them and walking towards the chambers, Toto following at her heels.

The scarecrow, tin man and lion looked at each other.

"She's not okay." The tin man said.

Everyone nodded in agreement at this and walked towards Ellie' room.

When they got to Ellie's room they found her sitting on her bed, tossing a light blue ball against the floor and catching the rebound as it bounced off the floor into the wall and back to her. She noticed all of them standing in her door way and caught the ball she then stood up.

"Ellie, you feeling better?" the china princess asked.

"Not really." She replied weakly.

"Ellie, we just saw Dorothy, she says she's okay but we don't believe It." the tin man said sadly.

"Ellie, you know what we're going to ask of you right?" The princess asked.

"no." Ellie said starting to tear up.

"Ellie I know Dorothy gave you orders, but I countermand them, it is your choice whose side you stand by." The princess said.

"Yes mam" Ellie said walking over to her.

They hugged for a minute and then a look of realization formed on her face.

"I just remember something, see you guys later." She said running in the direction of her sister's room.

When she got to her sisters room she walked over to the shelf. She took her hand and traced in the air for a minute.

"Come on where is It." she said looking at the various books and items.

She continued to trace along until she was on her knee looking at the bottom shelves. Then she found a small emerald green chest she opened in and smiled her then closed it again.

"Bingo" she said picking it up and running out.

Dorothy found herself sitting on the sill of one of the many huge windows once more. The scepter was floating in midair behind her. Toto was sitting on the sill as well keeping amused by watching various birds flying by. Dorothy was getting lost in thought once more when someone came up behind her and put their hands over her eyes.

"Ellie?" Dorothy asked.

She turned around as the hands lifted from her eyes. She was met with Ellie who was picking up the emerald green chest. She handed it to Dorothy.

"I was talking with the others, when I remembered something that might be helpful." Ellie said handing her the emerald green chest.

Dorothy shifted around on the sill so she could take the chest and not fall off. When she took it she looked at Ellie who nodded. Dorothy opened it and was surprised at what she found. There was a green crystal orb and what looked like a gold bracelet, the first thing she took out was the orb.

"Where did you get these?" was the first question that popped into her mind.

"My sister's room, there's a small note at the bottom." Ellie said taking out the gold bracelet looking thing and opening it placing it around Dorothy's ankle.

"Ellie, I don't know what to say." Dorothy said.

"You don't need to say anything." Ellie said.

Dorothy hopped down from the sill and looked at the admired the anklet for a bit. She then picked up the scepter. Taking the pink orb off of it she replaced it with the green one. She then picked up the chest and read the small note at the bottom.

"If I am to disappear, this anklet and crystal hold important magic to them, the anklet provides my protection to whomever wears it and the sphere was crafted specially for the wellbeing of Oz, you're truly Glinda." Dorothy read aloud.

"Yes, she always told me the box was emergencies only." Ellie said walking to Dorothy and hugging her.

Dorothy then remember something she thought was rather important.

"Ellie, I thought I'd ordered you not to be with me while your friends are upset with me." Dorothy said looking at her sternly.

"Those orders were countermanded, it is truly my choice who I decide to stand by and that person is you." Ellie said.

Toto barked and jumped off the sill, he then barked at the scepter. Dorothy and Ellie both looked at it, it was now glowing. In the orb was a light blue smoke. Dorothy waved it in the direction of one of the windows hoping once more that shutters would close. This time, they did. Dorothy smiled at this and hugged Ellie.

"It works, sweet Oz, it works." Dorothy said.

"Yes! Now you can fight the jester." Ellie said smiling.

"Yes, just one problem." Dorothy said

"What?" Ellie said losing the grin fast.

"You still don't know where he is." Wiser said walking up to them

Dorothy ran up to wiser and hugged him, he returned the embrace, and Ellie picked up the chest and shut it.

"You're right as usual wiser." Dorothy said.

"I've seen every square inch of Oz and I've only ever seen three castles, one in the south, owned by a good witch, the one in the west, and Glinda's in the north." Wiser said fixing his spectacles.

Dorothy's heart sank, if there wasn't a castle in Oz that wiser hadn't seen, then where the jester was?

"Are they any legends of lost castles?" Ellie asked.

"Um, not off the top of my head." Wiser said thinking about it.

Dorothy frowned and started towards the crystal ball, just then the entire city shook. Flying monkeys were seen flying by the windows.

"How did they get here!?" Ellie said screaming.

"I don't know, wiser?" Dorothy asked.

"I don't think the city is protected anymore." Wiser said walking over to a window and looking out.

"DOROTHY GALE! FACE ME NOW!" came the voice of the jester.

Dorothy looked outside and saw the figure of the jester form in the clouds, she ran, as fast as she could out of the city and into the fields, with Ellie and Toto following her closely. She looked up and the saw the jester look down at her.

"Oh good, you are listening, now that the defenses are down I can get into the city, or at my minions can." The jester said

There was then screaming coming from the emerald city, she looked up saw Elena, Chrissy, Caitlyn and Alison, as well as marshal mallow and the china princess.

"Let my comrades go!" Ellie screamed at the figure of the jester

"Can it blondie." The jester said as fire shot out of his mouth.

Ellie ducked and screamed. Dorothy hugged Ellie tightly.

"Can't you see she's frightened?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, and it's funny to me." The jester asked.

Just then the flying monkey swooped down and picked up Ellie, making her scream loudly. In a panic Dorothy took the scepter and whipped it around at the monkey. A ball of light darted from orb and hit the monkey square in the wings. It shrieked and dropped Ellie. Luckily wiser was standing close by and able to catch her.

"So, you are attached to the girl, well then let me give you a motivation to find me faster." He said taking out the wand and flicking it.

A mist appeared and the monkeys disappeared and the girls, and the china princess and marshal mallow appeared chained to the wall in two separate cells.

Ellie screamed a little and ran over to Dorothy hugging her.

"Spare us the sight of your work this time." Wiser said covering his eyes.

The jester thought about it and laughed Dorothy looked up at him and the mist disappeared.

"You know what I can do, so I'll add another game." The jester said smiling wickedly.

"I don't want to add any more games, I'm tired of them." Dorothy said.

"Oh but the game is only beginning." The jester said laughing.

Dorothy looked at him and sighed.

"What do you want?" she asked impatiently.

"I will not take any more of your friends, on one condition." The jester said laughing.

"What condition?" Dorothy asked.

"You or your little friend tell me your weaknesses, I know that you seem to have some sort of bond with the girl, but I want physical weaknesses. Last time we battled you and I were not so equally matched, but now we both have a working object of power, I want a fair chance this time." The jester said looking at her.

"What a baby." Ellie said giggling.

"Ellie, shush, only if you tell me your own weaknesses." Dorothy said hoping to strike a bargain.

"I'm a jester, what physical weaknesses?" The jester asked going from grinning to almost expressionless.

Dorothy thought about this, she knew the jester was relatively speaking correct. He was flexible and agile, pretty fast, but she knew he ran out of energy fast rom her last battle with him, but that was about it. She herself was pretty fast and didn't run out of energy that quickly. She however was not as flexible as the jester. She wanted to lie to him but she looked at Ellie and sighed.

"So, you going to tell me your weaknesses or shall I take your friends?" the jester asked.

"She's ticklish." Ellie said.

"Really?" the jester asked looking at the little girl.

"She's not lying." Dorothy said sitting down on the grass, "This conversation may take a while wont it?" Dorothy asked.

"A civil conversation? I think a war council is in order." The jester said.

"A war between two people?" Ellie asked.

"Hey, I have minions, well my sister's flying monkeys." He said thinking about it.

"But you aren't going to use them are you?" Dorothy asked.

"I don't know I haven't decided, I may, perhaps, and while we were discussing my little game I took another hostage." The jester said.

"Who!?" Dorothy asked worriedly.

Look around you, whose missing?" the jester said as a mist began to form again.

Dorothy looked around, Ellie and wiser were still there. She didn't realize it at first but she then noticed it was unusually quiet.

"Toto!" Dorothy said as he appeared in the mist.

"Yep, I have your little dog my pretty, and soon I'll have you too." He said laughing.

"Don't you dare hurt him?" Dorothy yelled getting up and picking up the scepter.

"Oh, don't worry, he like I said is a hostage, and by the way, I lied." The jester said cackling at the scarecrow, tin man and lion appeared next to Toto they were all chained to a wall.

"You really are wicked!" Ellie said.

"Well thank you. You'll be next." He said smiling wickedly at her.

This made Ellie scream and hug Dorothy tightly.

"Dorothy, if it's alright with you, I'm going to fly off." Wiser said running away.

Dorothy looked up at the jester who laughed at the owl and then vanished completely.

"So, it's just us?" Ellie asked.

Dorothy nodded and bent over taking off the anklet. She then took it and placed it on Ellie's ankle.

"You need it more than I do, he won't be able to touch you should he try." Dorothy said hugging her.

They then walked back into the emerald city where they were met with some of the guards, they offered to stand guard. But they shrugged it off because the jester knew how to get to them. They then got to Dorothy's room and took out a piece of paper. At this point they really needed a plan.


	8. Hopeless searching

**Disclaimer, everything said in the last chapters still apply, I don't own characters, franchise, etc.**

Dorothy handed Ellie the paper and the pencil, wiser finally returned as well, when he found that they were trying to make a plan to find the jester. Dorothy walked into the closet, grabbed her normal dress and shirt and walked into the bathroom. She then changed into them. When she emerged, she removed the flats and socks and pulled on her boots. She then picked up the scepter and looked at the emerald green orb.

"Dorothy, we know you have to face him alone, but I'm willing to get myself captured to help." Wiser said pushing his spectacles.

"If we find him, I know that the munchkin river will get you practically anywhere, I can take tugg the long way round" Ellie said.

"No, I don't want you two to put yourselves in danger for me." Dorothy said walking to her door.

"I'm going to the library." Dorothy said, Ellie nodded but followed.

When they got there Dorothy pushed open the doors with one hand and walked over to the shelves. She looked around for a book that could help her find him.

_Meanwhile at the castle_

The jester was riding around in a circle, Toto barking and growling at him.

"Oh be quite, I couldn't think of a use for a stone dog besides something to put in the garden, don't worry, I won't harm you, yet." He said cackling, flicking the wand at a curtain revealing the china princess and Marshall Mallow.

"You wicked man." The princess said.

"Hey it not my fault the spell doesn't work on china or marshmallows." The jester said.

"Do you really believe she'll find you? I mean castle grey of all places?" the princess said.

"Shut up you oversized china doll, this castle has a large origin in Oz's history." The jester said pointing the wand in her direction causing a crack to form on her face.

She gasped as she felt it, Toto growled and barked angrily.

"You monster I could crack completely through." She said.

"Oh shut up its just a hairline fracture, anyways you guys keep amused, I have to find a way to exploit your pigtailed hero's weakness." He jester said walking off.

"She's ticklish the worst you'll be able to do to her is torture her." The princess said, then realizing what she just did.

"Exactly, my dear, so if she wants to be fair, she knows I can't run that fast without running out of energy, so to make it fair I will run on this conveyer device, and she will um. Well I haven't thought about that yet." The jester said going in to thought.

"Why are you trying to be fair? It's not like you, what happened in that tornado?" the princess asked, marshal mallow nodded weakly.

"Because, this is war, or at least it is in my eyes, and I want to beat her, so if I'm going to do it I have to fight fair." He said.

"So you gained a sense of morale?" the princess asked, Toto looked at him sideways.

"Basically, yes that and I found this book when I returned." He said taking a small white book with gold text on its cover.

He slid it over to her and she read the cover aloud.

"How to fight a war?" she asked.

"Yes, it's short and doesn't cover anything important but it says try to fight fair and clean, I can be fair." The jester said thinking about it.

"Really?" the princess asked a bit skeptical.

"Dorothy will accept if I have to make her, and I just thought of how, ill build a set of stocks, but with feather attachments." He stood there for a minute and thought about it. "I'll just build a table with feather dusters attached to it, because that last one sounds stupid" he added.

The princess leaned back against the wall she was chained to and sighed. She closed her eyes. She could just break her hand off and repair herself later but she probably couldn't escape. Then she heard a loud crash, the jester emerged rubbing the top of his head.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to build would you?" the jester ask holding up a wrench.

"That's the scarecrows department." The china princess said giggling.

"To heck with it then, I'll just use magic." He said.

_Hours later in the emerald city _

It was night by the time they had searched at least a quarter of the library, the guards had been bringing them snacks to keep them fed while they were searching. Both Ellie and Dorothy were standing on ladders looking at the higher shelves.

"Find anything on legends?" Ellie asked.

"Nothing useful." Dorothy said.

"Same." Ellie said as the clock struck ten.

"Negative down here." Wiser said flipping through a book.

"It's getting really late." Dorothy said looking at the clock.

"I know." Ellie said yawning a bit.

"I say we continue this search in the morning." Wiser said.

Dorothy flipped through a grey leather bound book and then put it back on the shelf. Getting down from the ladder she picked up the scepter. She began to debate with herself whether she should bring it into battle. She felt along its body, it wasn't scratched or nicked, even after it had clashed with a sword, it still felt smooth and lacquered. She walked over to the shelf that Ellie was looking at and prodded at her foot with the scepter.

"I think Wiser's right we should get some sleep Ellie." Dorothy said.

Ellie turned around and looked at her, she sighed and jumped down from the ladder. Dorothy caught her in her arms.

"Well then, shall we go?" Ellie said jumping from Dorothy's arms.

Dorothy nodded, wiser had already rolled over asleep on the floor and was snoring.

"Should we wake him?" Ellie asked giggling

"I don't have the heart" Dorothy said.

They both giggled at this for a bit as book fell from the shelves. Ellie ran over and picked it up, reading the title aloud.

"Animals and their history in Oz, didn't we already check this one?" she said placing it on a table.

"Yep, come on lets go." Dorothy said.

As they both left the library Ellie stood there frozen for a second. Dorothy looked at her and then looked in the direction she was staring.

"Dorothy?" Ellie said in a scared tone.

"What is it Ellie?" Dorothy asked worriedly

"I feel something, a feeling as though a connection has been established, I felt it before when my sister was turned to stone but now I'm feeling it again." Ellie said.

Dorothy remember how Glinda mentioned having some sort of link with her sister.

"Ellie close your eyes tight, try mentally talking to your sister." Dorothy said in a scrap of hope.

Ellie nodded and obeyed. Dorothy took the scepter and pressed against Ellie's forehead. The image of Glinda appeared in the crystal. Chained to a wall she had her eyes closed as well.

"She's tired, she's really sore with the jester as well." Ellie said, her eyes still closed.

"Ellie, tell her to open her eyes, you should be able to see where she is." Dorothy said.

Shortly after the image of Glinda opened her eyes, Ellie gasped as the jester walked into the picture. A voice then came out of the crystal.

"Glinda I brought you back, help me out, I didn't kill you, and I didn't capture your sister either." The jester said.

Glinda looked up weakly and sighed.

"My sister is watching, she knows I'm alive and well." Glinda said.

She then went on to explain the connection she had established between herself and her sister.

"But they still can't find us?" the jester asked.

Glinda nodded weakly.

"Well then, Dorothy gale, I have grown weary of this game, I'll give you a hint to speed things up, the name of the castle has a rather dull color to It." the jester said shouting into the air.

Dorothy then felt these words ring in her own ears, as if the jester had sent them personally. She began to feel drowsy. She walked over to a couch that was in the hallway, Ellie then opened her eyes.

"Dorothy, are you okay?" Ellie asked.

Dorothy started feeling nauseas she sat down on the couch closed her eyes and drifted off. The scepter flew from her hand and floated in the air in front of her as if guarding her in her sleep. Ellie walked over to Dorothy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She then took off the coat she was wearing and draped it over Dorothy.

There was then a bright flash of light, Ellie ducked and found herself no longer in the emerald hallways of the city but on a stone floor. One armed chained to a wall, she looked around and was met with a sight that made her smile, it was Glinda she lowered her wand weakly as the star design stopped glowing. She then saw the jester and shrunk back.

"Don't worry my little flower, I shall not hurt you, Dorothy will wake up and realize your disappearance, send messaged directly to people as I did to her would have the effect of dropping a piano on her, just not as fatal." He said.

Ellie reached out trying to meet her sister's hand. She then saw wiser in the cell across from them. She winced as he was still asleep. She wished Dorothy would hurry up and find out what the jesters hint meant, for she had no idea herself. The jester then cackled and ran off.

"Glinda, I thought the anklet provided protection from his power?" Ellie said concerned.

"I, does." Glinda said weakly slumping against the wall, "I, summoned, you." She added before her eyes closed again.

"Why?" Ellie asked.

"Because, I'm powerless, against him." She said.

"So you did his bidding?" Ellie asked, feeling betrayed

Glinda didn't answer, she merely slumped back and slid down the wall, breathing but unconscious. It would be hours before Dorothy would awaken again, she began to cry.


	9. the game begins

**Disclaimer as usual I don't own the movies, franchise, etc.**

Dorothy was shaken awake early that morning. She looked up and one of the soldiers. She sat up, stretched, and grabbed the scepter from the air.

"We regret to inform you that Miss Ellie has vanished. The city has been searched, there has been no sign of the owl either." The soldier said saluting and marching off.

Dorothy looked stunned, how could the jester have gotten Ellie? Especially without her knowing. She got up and tried to run to the chambers but found that her head was throbbing, she leaned against the wall and placed her free hand on her forehead.

"Miss gale, Are you alright?" one of the soldiers asked stopping his patrol.

"Yea, I'm fine, I just need some water." Dorothy said.

"Yes, mam." The soldier said pulling out his canteen and offering it to her.

She took it and thanked him, he saluted and marched off. Dorothy opened it and took a drink, she felt a little bit better, but she needed to get to the throne room. She trudged slowly taking quick sips from the canteen as she went along. Soon her head began to clear and she was able to see straight once more. She eventually got there and pushed the doors open. She found the crystal ball sitting there, dark, practically empty. She walked over to it and touched it. The scepter lit up and Dorothy looked into the crystal. She saw Ellie, sitting in a cell next to Glinda, crying.

This made her upset, she couldn't stand to see Ellie upset. But she saw Glinda, sitting there sickly pale, she looked weak, and this upset Dorothy even more.

"I will find the jester and I will fight him." Dorothy said to herself.

She slammed the scepter against the floor and the crystal's smoke turned emerald again going dark.

"If I could figure out his clue." Dorothy said thinking about it.

She then walked out of the room and walked towards Glinda's room. When she got there she walked in and looked around on the bookshelf. She found several books of spells and one children's story book that she hadn't seen before. She opened it, it was something that Ellie had picked up while they were in her world by the looks of it. She looked some more and looked at the scepter. She wondered who would name a castle of a dull color. She then looked at the picture of Glinda and cried a bit.

"Oh Glinda what am I going to do?" Dorothy asked the painting.

She began to feel hopeless she couldn't figure out what the jester meant. She sighed and figured at this point the jester could just find her himself. Dorothy began to cry slightly harder, Ellie, Toto, Glinda, her aunt and uncle, all of them prisoners of the jester. Mr. and Mrs. Upland were used to get to Glinda. And the girls were just in the way. She began to feel alone, she got up and walked out. She than began to run. Before she even knew what she was doing she found herself on tugg's deck.

"Miss Dorothy, what are you doing here?" Tugg asked curiously.

"Take me to the west castle." Dorothy said.

Tugg didn't question it, there was nothing that could protect them at this point. He turned around and starting heading towards the cave. When they got there he followed the path of the lanterns and eventually they found themselves in the west, with the purple sky glowing with lightning. Tugg once again dropped her at a relatively sturdy dock by the castle. She walked up to the castle and pushing it open, for it had closed since her last time there. She walked in and sat down she then took the scepter and rested it down. She then pulled off her boots and set them next to her. She then crossed her legs and closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed, she began to relax.

She began to almost drift off to sleep when she felt something rub against her foot. She giggled and opened her eyes. She looked around and eventually saw the queen of the field mice.

"Your majesty, what are you doing here?" Dorothy asked looking at the mouse.

"I've been here." The queen said.

"Why?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"The scarecrow had us staking out the place in the event you tried to come back." The queen said.

"Really?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, I came here to see how my soldiers were doing, then I am to report to the scarecrow." The queen said.

"Well, the scarecrow's been taken." Dorothy said.

"Oh, well, that's depressing." The queen replied.

"Tell me about it." Dorothy said tearing up a bit.

"Dorothy, please forgive me for bringing it up." the queen said.

Dorothy nodded, she then set her hand down for the queen to climb on. The queen nodded, she got on to Dorothy's hand. Dorothy lifted the queen up so that they were looking each other in the eye.

"It's okay your majesty." Dorothy said.

The Queen of the field mice bowed and kissed Dorothy on the nose. Making her giggle.

"Did you hear that I had some babies recently?" the queen asked.

"Really? Congratulations, how many?" Dorothy asked.

"Three for now." The queen said giggling, "they are back at home." She added climbing up Dorothy's arm and onto her shoulder.

Dorothy looked at the mouse and pet her gently on the head with her thumb.

"Want to come with me back to the emerald city? I could use the company at the moment." Dorothy offered.

The little queen was about to refuse but she saw the look of sadness in Dorothy's eyes. She then nodded.

"It would be my pleasure." The queen said bowing.

"Great, just let me put my boots on." Dorothy said grabbing her boots.

The queen held onto Dorothy's shoulder as she pulled on her boots. When this was done she picked up the scepter and walked out of the castle, the queen then stopped Dorothy.

"Wait, before we go, let's get at least two of my guards." She said, she then placed her fingers to her lips and whistled.

Two mice dressed in orange and brown soldiers uniforms appeared. Dorothy had seen them once before, when they were constructing Tugg. But this was a long time ago. The soldier mice saluted.

"I am going to be staying in the emerald city, you two are to accompany us." The queen said.

Dorothy nodded and bent over, setting down her free hand the two mice saluted and climbed onto it. They then skittered up Dorothy's arm and went onto her shoulder with their queen.

"Your majesty are you sure this is a good idea?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Yes, I think so." The queen said.

"Well, we are not entitled to argue with you." The other soldier said.

They then walked out, and towards Tugg. He was surprised to see the queen of the field mice on Dorothy's shoulder. He greeted them as the embarked and rode back towards the emerald city. Along the way Dorothy told the queen about what had happened in the city.

"I'm sorry what happened to your friends, how about, if the jester thinks of this as a game he allows you to get a choice of a friend to take back." The queen said.

"I don't know if he'd allow it." Dorothy said.

"But you could try, just don't let him see us." The guard said agreeing with his leader.

When they arrived at the emerald city they found guards waiting for her. When they all disembarked the guards bowed when they saw the Queen. Dorothy handed off the queen and her soldiers to the guards and asked them to take the queen to her room, and that she needed to do something. The soldiers nodded and saluted marching off towards the city.

Dorothy then walked to the middle of the field and looked at the sky, holding up the scepter she yelled.

"Jester, I know you can hear me, face me now, I want to make a bargain." Dorothy said.

She waited for a few minutes, the clouds began to twist and contort they then came together to take the form of the jester.

"What kind of bargain?" the jester asked.

"I'll create a list of my physical weaknesses for you if you give me back one of my friends, you can give me a choice or you can choose one at random." Dorothy said.

"Hmm? A list of physical weaknesses in exchange for a friend, give me a minute to think about It." the jester said pondering it.

She hope the jester would agree, she knew that the likely hood of Dorothy being able to get Ellie back would be pretty slim, but it was a possibility.

"So, while you're thinking about it, how you been?" Dorothy asked trying to keep herself from getting too bored.

"I've been nice, plotting your downfall and all that." The jester said still pondering it.

A pad of paper and a pencil appeared in front of her. Dorothy picked it up and began writing all of her negative physical attributes, such as lack of flexibility, or that she was intimidated by people who were larger than her, and such. She then threw the pad up and it disappeared.

"There's your list, you going to keep your end of the bargain?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, but I have chosen a friend of yours that you feel guilt about losing." The jester said flicking the wand in front of him.

Alyssa then appeared next to Dorothy, she had a confused look on her face. She saw Dorothy and looked at the jester she then hugged Dorothy tightly.

"This is the only friend you get, it was either her or the scarecrow." The jester said smiling then vanishing.

"Dorothy? What's going on?" Alyssa asked looking at Dorothy.

Dorothy then explained everything that had happened from Elena being angry with her to what had happened now. Alyssa wiped some tears from her cheek and hugged Dorothy.

"I'm sorry Dorothy, but never mind that, let's go to your room and meet the queen of the field mice." Alyssa said.

"You don't seem to upset about your own sister being turned into a marble statue." Dorothy said concerned.

"I'm the captain, I cry alone." She said walking ahead of Dorothy who ran after her.

They walked all the way back to Dorothy's bedroom, they found the door open and the queen nibbling on a small piece of cheese. She looked at Dorothy who curtsied, as did Alyssa who also saluted. Dorothy walked in and introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you captain Alyssa." The Queen said.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you as well." Alyssa said.

After a while of discussing their stories, Dorothy went along to tell them about how Alyssa came to her freedom.

"You gave him a list of your weaknesses? Are you INSANE!" Alyssa asked her.

Dorothy sighed and sat down on her bed, setting the scepter down next her she pulled off her boots and lied down.

"I had to, I needed assistance, and besides, I know what his physical weaknesses from our last battle." Dorothy said and Alyssa sat down on the foot of the bed and started tracing that twisting pattern on the sole of the foot closest to her.

"Well, I guess in battle strategy it's not good, in retrospect it's fair however." Alyssa said adding a quick poke to Dorothy's foot.

Dorothy giggled, this really was a weakness to her, and she knew somehow the jester would use this against her. Then a guard came in carrying a bowl of fruit, he set it down on the table next to the door and saluted. He then nodded and marched away. Alyssa got up and grabbed it. She then brought it over after grabbing herself an apple. She then set the fruit basket down on the bed. Dorothy grabbed herself an apple and offered what was left to the queen and her guards. They worked together to drag out a pear.

"Ellie would have laughed at that." Alyssa said, "Sweet Oz, I'm sorry Dorothy I forgot." She added covering her mouth.

Dorothy looked at Alyssa sadly, and lied back down.

"It's okay, I've been trying not to think about it, I take care of Ellie like she was a little sister to me." Dorothy said taking a bite from the apple.

"Dorothy, you want to talk about it?" the queen asked

"Not really, no." Dorothy said taking another bite.

"Miss Alyssa, let's go, I think Dorothy needs some time alone." The queen said.

Alyssa nodded and picked up the queen and her guards, she placed them on her shoulder and walked out. Leaving Dorothy alone, she say up and hugged her legs to her chest. She wished she could go back, to before this all happened, and somehow changed it. But she knew far back in her mind that this wasn't ever going to be possible. She got up, taking the scepter with her she walked out of her room.

She thought about the witch of the west, which strangely enough hadn't popped into her mind for a while. She wondered what had driven that woman to her wickedness. Now she wondered what made the witch do what she did to her brother. She found herself now lost in thought, it took her while to realize that she was lost in the emerald city as well. She looked around and noticed that she was in a large hallway that looked like it hadn't been dusted in a few years. The first door she saw she turned the knob and pushed against the door. In the middle of the room was a set up chess board, it was in the middle of being played, but there was no one in the room. She walked in and looked at the chess board.

The game looked like it was whites move so she picked up a pawn and moved it ahead one space.

"So, you found my game I see." Came the voice of the jester from behind her.

She turned around to find that he wasn't there. She then felt a tap on her shoulder, she whipped around and saw the jester who moved a black castle forward.

"What are you doing here!?" Dorothy asked concerned.

"The game has just about begun." He said smiling and then he vanished as did the chess board.

Dorothy was shocked by this, she slowly backed out of the room and shut the door and walked to the next. She turned the knob and pushed against the door. In this room she found a giant pipe organ, it was dusty and covered in cobwebs but it was a pipe organ nonetheless. She shut that room and walked to the next door. Pushing it open she found what looked like an office, it was relatively clean, so she walked in. setting the scepter against the wall she walked over to the desk and looked at the papers, there was a thing of sheet music, an unfinished piece of music. She picked it up and read through it. She understood some of it but not a lot of it. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder which made her jump.

"Dorothy, I didn't mean to scare you." Alyssa said.

"Alyssa, well you didn't that much, I didn't expect someone to look for me." Dorothy said putting down the music.

"yea well, I returned to your room to see if you wanted anything but you weren't there, so I thought here was a better place than not to check." Alyssa said pulling out a map.

"You know, you guys have a lot of maps." Dorothy said walking over to the scepter and picking it up.

"Yea, we're soldiers we need to know where we are." Alyssa said laughing

"Hey, where'd you leave the Queen and her soldiers?" Dorothy asked realizing they weren't with her.

"You're room, finishing a pear." Alyssa said.

"So, let's go back then." Dorothy said.

"I wonder what the jester is up to." Alyssa said.

Dorothy then went on to explain what she had seen.

_Later in castle grey._

Ellie had been sitting in the cell for a while now, Toto was thrown into the cell to keep her in her sister company, Glinda had recovered some energy a bit, but her color still hadn't returned and she was still pretty weak. Ellie had found herself shoeless several times because Toto like playing her dress shoes. It wasn't often that the jester would come in, but they would at least get decent meals and weren't being turned to stone. She was shoeless again, Toto had taken her dress shoes again, that's when the jester showed up and looked at them.

"Hey, where are your dress shoes?" the jester asked looking at her socked feet.

"Toto has them, he likes toying with them for some reason." Ellie said.

"Oh, that's funny, not as funny as me though." The jester said laughing and taking a steel bar from the wall and ran it against the bars of the cell.

The ringing sound of steel against steel made her grind her teeth, the jester then laughed and walked away. Ellie then pressed her hand against her sister's forehead, she was cold, she was still alive but she was cold as the marble the room was made out of. She hugged her sister and began to cry, the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. She missed the emerald city, she missed her friends who were still turned to stone, and importantly she missed Dorothy. She was spending more time with her sister, which wasn't bad, but she was Dorothy was here, because she was scared. She then looked at her sister again, she then hugged her. Glinda weakly returned the embrace.

In another part of the castle the jester had been watching in a small crystal. He was feeling sorry, and he didn't know why, but he felt that he needed to be nice to these guys for some reason. He walked over to a closet and opened it, he pulled out a wool blanket and walked back towards the dungeons. When he got down there he walked over to the cell that Glinda and Ellie had been moved to. Ellie looked at the jester in curiosity at what he was doing.

"Hey kid, wrap her in this." The jester said throwing it through the bars.

The blanket fell just short of Ellie, she picked it up and unfolded it draping it over her sister. The jester then walked away, he had no idea what was going on, he wanted his revenge, but at the same time he was feeo8hg sorry for the people he was holding prisoner, guilt? He didn't know, but he knew that he was feeling sorry. Ellie had noticed this, and thought about it.

"I wish I was with Dorothy." Ellie said.

_Later in the emerald city._

Dorothy had returned to her room to find the queen and her soldiers on the table in front of her bed, eating through a pear. Dorothy told them about all about what had happened. They were worried but they didn't decide to bring it farther. Dorothy looked into the scepter and wished she could see Ellie.

"Well Dorothy, you don't mind if we stay here right?" the queen asked.

"No, not at all." Dorothy replied in a surprised tone.

"Well, then I sent one of my guards to find Alyssa, she's going to make a bed for us." The queen 0said.

Dorothy nodded and then closed her eyes, she began to feel dizzy, and she felt sick, the last thing she felt was collapsing. She heard the jester's voice in her head.

"I'm giving you another friend." Said his voice in a sad tone.

This made Dorothy sigh with relief before she blacked out.

_Once more in castle grey._

The jester was walking around the dungeons, looking at the white marble statues, he knew by now Dorothy had received his message. He got up to the cell that Ellie and Glinda was in and looked at them. He then turned away and walked towards the cells that the girls were in.

"Which one of you would be most helpful to her?" he asked himself.

"Elena, doesn't like Dorothy at the moment." Came Ellie's voice.

"Come again?" the jester said turning around.

"Elena doesn't like Dorothy at the moment, because you took her sister." Ellie said.

"Well then, time for some reuniting then." The jester said flicking the wand at the statue of Elena.

The statue began to slowly go from stone to human flesh. When it was nearly done the jester opened the cell door and walked in. when the transformation was finished Elena collapsed, the jester caught her. He then flicked the wand again and Elena disappeared.

"So, this should go well." He said sighing.


	10. More questions

**Disclaimer, I don't own the franchise, characters, etc.**

Dorothy awoke a few hours later, she was now on her bed, the scepter she could see was floating a few inches away from her bed, as if standing guard. Alyssa was sitting there with a worried expression on her face. Dorothy then tried to sit up but found her head throbbing once again. She placed her hand on her forehead and groaned.

"Dorothy? do you need anything?" Alyssa asked concerned.

"Just a drink of water." Dorothy said quietly.

Alyssa nodded and got up, she then walked into the bathroom, and emerged a few seconds later with a glass of water. She handed it to Dorothy who sipped it slowly. She found her head feeling better. She was able to sit up but her head still hurt a bit.

"Dorothy, is there anything else you need?" came the voice of the Queen.

Dorothy looked around and eventually found that the queen was on the bedpost above her.

"Not really, just something for the headache." Dorothy said taking a few more sips from her water.

"Dorothy, what happened?" Alyssa asked curiously.

Dorothy then explained how the jester told them she'd be getting another friend back, but she didn't know who.

"And that's when I collapsed." Dorothy said ending the story.

"Why would he do that?" Alyssa asked.

"I don't know, but he sounded sad saying it." Dorothy said.

"Odd, but I don't want to think about the jester right now." Alyssa said.

"Me neither but we need to find a way to find him." Dorothy said reaching over and plucking the scepter from midair.

"Good point, we should try to find the location of the castle." Alyssa said.

"That's what Ellie and I were trying to do." Dorothy said.

Before the discussion could go any further a guard ran in panting.

"Miss Alyssa, Miss Dorothy, your majesty, we found a girl lying in the field outside the city, she is unconscious, but she is alive and breathing, we think it's one of your associates." The guard said.

Dorothy looked at Alyssa and jumped out of the bed, she didn't care that her head was still throbbing a bit she ran. Alyssa picked up the Queen and her guards, and then jogged after her. When they got to the field they found another guard carrying someone. Dorothy gasped when she realized who it was.

"Dear lord, Elena." Dorothy said gasping.

Alyssa then ran up to her and panted a few times, the queen still holding on, as was her guards. She then saw her sister and gasped.

"Sweet oz." Alyssa said offering to carry her.

"So you know her?" the soldier asked.

"She's my sister." Alyssa said starting to tear up.

The guard nodded and handed Elena off to Alyssa. Dorothy held out her hand for the queen and her soldiers to climb on. They nodded and did this and skittered up her arm and onto her shoulder.

"We should take her to my room, its closest in the city." Dorothy said.

"Are you sure?" Alyssa asked.

"She probably won't be happy to see me, so I might as well try to make up for it." Dorothy said.

"But I don't know when she'll wake up." Alyssa said.

"I never leave my friends in the lurch." Dorothy said.

Alyssa nodded and turned around, carrying her sister in her arm she walked to Dorothy's room. When she got there, she set Elena down on the bed, she then unstrapped the sword sheath from her sister's side and hung it on the bed post. That's when Dorothy walked in. she walked over to Elena setting the scepter down against the wall and walked over. She stood at the end of the bed and pulled off the flats Elena had been wearing setting them on the floor.

"Alyssa, where is Elena's room?" Dorothy asked getting up.

"It's not far from mine." Alyssa said, "Why?" she asked.

"She's a nurse, she must have some medicine lying about in her room somewhere." Dorothy said.

"There is, but there's no way you'd be able to make heads or tails of any of it without her little medicine guide." Alyssa said.

"Oh, um where's her little pouch?" Dorothy asked taking the blanket and pulling it over Elena's body.

"I think it's in her room, she wasn't wearing it when they found her." Alyssa said getting up and walking out, "summon for someone if she awakens." She added.

The queen looked at Dorothy then at Elena, she then walked over to a little bed that had bed made up for her and her guards. Elena shifted in the bed a bit, and groaned. She closed her eyes tighter. She then rubbed her eyes and opened them. When she saw Dorothy and scowled, she sat up and looked for her sword, the scepter sprang up and knocked it away causing the queen to stir.

"What's happening?" the queen asked looking at Elena.

"Your majesty." Elena said gasping, she then jumped out of the bed and bowed.

"Arise child." The queen said looking at Elena.

Elena then looked back at Dorothy, she backed slowly away from her as she went to pick up her sword. Dorothy looked at the scepter and then reached her hand out to grab the scepter so that it couldn't attack Elena.

"I don't want to fight you." Dorothy said.

"I don't want to fight you either but should it come down to it I will avenge my sister." Elena said picking up the sword and sheath.

Dorothy tightened her grip on the scepter. Then she giggled.

"What, you think it's funny that my sister is a statue!?" Elena yelled unsheathing her sword.

This time the scepter made no move to defend Dorothy this time. The Queen however did.

"Miss Elena, put that sword away." She commanded.

The sword clattered to the ground and Elena ran past Dorothy, and into the embrace of her sister.

"How? Oh sweet Oz, I thought I'd never see you again." Elena said, Dorothy smiled.

They all explained how all the events unfolded, when they got to the events about Ellie Dorothy stopped and sat down.

"Dorothy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up." Alyssa said.

"It's okay, it's just, oh never mind." Dorothy said wiping some tears from her eyes.

"You gave a list of your weaknesses to the jester in exchange for our freedom, are you INSANE!" Elena asked

"I said the same thing." Alyssa said handing Elena her medicine bag.

"I wonder why the jester would do that though he only promised one friend." Elena said looking at both them.

_Meanwhile at castle grey._

The jester was pacing around his tower, twisting the wand between his fingers like a baton. He was looking in a crystal ball, he saw that Ellie had been crying, her sister hadn't gotten any better, but he had no idea what to do. He considered just letting her go, she wasn't going to get any better in that dungeon. He was feeling guilt, he didn't know why.

"I don't get it, I'm keeping prisoners to make the girl play into my hands, but I can't fathom why I'm feeling guilt about keeping statues, the marionettes didn't give me guilt, why this?" he asked himself.

He walked out of the room and the crystal went dark, he found himself at one of the many bedrooms, he went in and found it plain, dull and boring, but it would work, it was warmer in here than the dungeons. He felt he wasn't going to get the guilt off his back unless he assisted with the recovery. He went towards the dungeons and found a bedroom that was relatively closer to the dungeon, he himself didn't sleep much, he took the occasional catnap but that was about it. But the three prisoners he didn't have as stone statues didn't sleep much either by the looks of it. He then found himself walking towards the dungeons once more. When he got there he unlocked the cell, Ellie didn't stir, she had finally fallen asleep. Toto how ever did stir, he shook himself awake and saw the jester and barked. This made Ellie wake up, when she saw the jester and shrunk back.

"W-what do you want?" she managed to choke out.

The jester didn't speak, he just flicked the wand and their chains unlocked, he walked up to Glinda and placed a hand on her forehead, he immediately drew back and shivered. She was as cold as the marble in the room and somehow still alive. He then looked at Ellie who made no attempt to run, which surprised him.

"I broke your chains and you make no attempt to run, why?" he asked picking up Glinda.

"Like Dorothy I don't abandon the people I love, my sister made me forget her for my own protection, she had years of regret, I will not make my sisters mistakes." Ellie said getting up.

"Well then, you and Dorothy do have something in common, enthusiasm, spunk, and the love of others." The jester said carrying Glinda out of the dungeons.

Ellie and Toto followed, they were curious. The jester was pretty much offering hospitality to them. When they got to the bedroom closest to the dungeon he motioned for Ellie to open it. She did, as she looked in she saw a rather plain looking room, but it felt warmer and more welcoming than the dungeon. The jester walked over to the bed and set Glinda down on it.

"Why are you offering hospitality? It doesn't seem like a villain to do that." Ellie said picking up Toto.

"because child, for some reason I am feeling regret, guilt if you'd like, for just leaving you three in the cell, I don't know why but doing this just feels right, and admit it, she wasn't going to get any better if I kept her in that cell." The jester said pulling a blanket over Glinda's body.

"So in other words, though you are still wicked, you have some remorse and are having second thoughts?" Ellie asked a bit confused.

"That's putting it bluntly but yes, I am still wicked so to speak, I'm still plotting your friends doom, and yet, the game is changing in ways more than I would have hoped." He said taking a small book from his pocket and flipping through it.

Ellie out of curiosity tried to read the page that the jester was, he immediately shut the book and looked at her.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to read over someone else's shoulder?" he asked placing his hand on the bridge of his large hooked nose and rubbing it.

"Yes, but what is that?" Ellie asked referring to the book.

"The rules of the game, they get made up as we go along, and I find it fun." He said chuckling.

"So, you really do see this as one big game them?" Ellie said walking to a chair and sitting down in it and petting Toto.

"Yep." He said walking out.

_That night in the emerald city._

After a warm reunion with her sister, Alyssa and Elena, accompanied by the queen of the field mice, went to the library to search for information. Dorothy however did some more exploring using the map that Alyssa gave her. She eventually found herself at the hallway she had been in when she was confronted by the jester. The scepter was serving as a torch, she walked to one of the rooms that she hadn't been in and pushed the door open. Inside she found boxes of stuff, and a painting of the wizard himself. This made Dorothy smile, the wizard hadn't always been reclusive and she knew that, but inside she wondered what had become of him. She then left the room and began to think.

The wizard became the mysterious person that he did because of the witches. But when she killed them even then he didn't reveal his true self. But this was completely understandable given the circumstances. But she wondered about the witches, she knew that they held control over their domain with an iron fist but were they truly wicked, or did they just not have their moralities straight? She asked herself these questions, she began to tear up. She wished she could go back and ask the witch of the west why she was the person she had been. She must have had a childhood, something had to have made her the way she was. She began to cry a bit, then words that had heard before she just couldn't place them.

"Someone who is truly evil, is a person that has no one to weep for them." She said to herself.

But she wondered where she had heard it, but at the same time she didn't. She then walked over to another door and pushed it open. She found inside that the room was completely empty. She walked in and sat down in the center, she set down the scepter and pulled off her boots again. She then crossed her legs and closed her eyes. She began to relax, as her breathing slowed and her mind began to clear she began to feel calm and tranquility pass over her. After a while she sighed and got up, pulling on her boots and picking up the scepter she decided to go back to her room. After maybe ten minutes she found herself back in the part of the emerald city that she recognized. It didn't take her long to find her way back to her room from there. When she got back to her room she set the scepter down next to the door and walked over to the bed. Sitting down on it she pulled off her boots and lied down on it. It didn't take long for her to drift off to sleep.

However in the library, Elena and Alyssa were growing tired, they hadn't found anything about white marble castles anywhere.

"Find anything yet?" Elena shouted across the library.

"Nope, Have you three found anything?" Alyssa asked looking around for the queen and her two guards.

"negative." Came the voice of one of the guards

"Same." Came the voice of another.

"Alyssa, there are probably more than a couple thousand books in the library, it could take weeks for us to find any clues." The Queen said running up to her.

"I know, but it's the only lead we've got." She said.

Alyssa then put her hand out for the queen to climb onto. She bowed and did this, then she whistled for her guards who came running from two separate directions. They both then saluted and climbed onto Alyssa's hand. She smiled and climbed down the ladder she had been on.

"Elena, I'm bringing the queen and her guards to Dorothy's room, you should think about getting to bed as well." She called to her sister.

"Okay, hopefully we can find something in the morning." Elena said emerging from the bookshelves.

They all left the library rather tired, but hopeful that they would find something.

_Meanwhile back at castle grey._

The jester was now pacing around the castle, the china princess and her giant marshmallow of a husband hand already been informed of what had happened with Glinda, they didn't seem too worried about it. But at this point being captive for so long made them too weak to care about anything. He walked up to tower and the crystal ball lit up with life. He waved the wand over it and the image of Dorothy, asleep in her room in the emerald city, he flicked it and it went to the image of Ellie, Toto and Glinda. Ellie had been crying again, he was beginning to wonder if this was caused by him, he just didn't know how he did it.

"I need to find a way to help Glinda recover before this guilt takes over me completely." He said to himself.

The game was taking longer than he hoped, his new plan was that if in three days' time had the girl not found him yet he would tell her himself. He really wanted to avenge not just his sisters, but his first loss against the girl. Because he knew far more than he was admitting to anyone, the only other person who knew this was Glinda. And she was not in a state to share secrets with anyone. So he would have to reveal it at some point himself, he walked over to a small curtain and pulled the tasseled rope next to it. Behind the curtain was a small book. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. He then laughed wickedly.


	11. The new game

**Disclaimer, I don't own the franchise, movies, etc.**

Dorothy awoke early the next morning, she stretched and looked around her room, she saw that the queen and her guards were sleeping in their bed, Dorothy quietly got up and pulled on her boots. She then quietly walked up to the door, picking up the scepter she left her room and walked towards the library. When she got there she was surprised to find Elena already up and searching.

"Elena? How long have you been awake?" Dorothy asked walking over to her.

"About maybe an hour now." Elena said yawning and looking at a nearby clock.

"You should go back to sleep, I'll continue searching." Dorothy said.

"Are you sure?" Elena asked.

"Quite sure." Dorothy said nodding.

Elena saluted and walked out of the library not saying a word. Dorothy set down the scepter next to the table next to her and walked over to the far left end of the library. She climbed up the ladder that was next to it. She began running her finger along the line of books pushing the ladder down the shelf as she went along. She wondered how she was going to find anything with so many books to search for, but she knew she needed to find the information herself. Her finger then stopped on a grey bound book. She picked it up and flipped through it. She found that it was a book on the history of the land, she wondered if in anyway this could help her. She set the book aside to look through later. She then pushed the ladder in the opposite direction. Then she heard a voice.

"Dorothy?" came Alyssa's voice echoing through the library.

"Over here." Dorothy called.

It took a few minutes before Alyssa emerged from the large rows of bookshelves, she was carrying the scepter with had gone dark, on her shoulder the queen and her guards were sitting. Alyssa tossed the scepter to Dorothy, who caught in the hand she wasn't holding on to the ladder with.

"Dorothy, did you find anything?" Alyssa asked.

"I found a book on the history of Oz, I don't know how useful it will be but we can try." She said gesturing to it.

Alyssa picked it up and opened it.

"This only goes as far as the great ice storm." Alyssa said sighing.

"What?" Dorothy asked.

"The great ice storm, and the only ice storm in the land of oz." Alyssa said.

She then went on to explain what she knew about it, she told her how it happened before the wizard's time in oz. but there was never anything relatively important about it.

"Dorothy, understand this, yes we do have snow in Oz but the ice that fell during the great ice storm was huge hunks of ice, I heard this from one of the older munchkins the last time I was in the domain of the east." Alyssa said as the Queen and her guards jumped off her shoulder and only the nearest bookshelf.

Dorothy nodded as Alyssa handed the book back to Dorothy. Dorothy placed the scepter against the shelves and took the book, she then pushed the ladder back over to the place where she had found the book and placed it back where she found it. She then pushed the ladder back over to Alyssa and jumped off of it. Picking up the scepter she walked back towards the middle of the library, she began to think about Ellie, and began to worry.

_Meanwhile at castle grey._

The jester was once again pacing around the tower, next to him was now the chess board with the pieces in position, it was Dorothy's move. On the table was also a cup of tea, which he picked up and took a sip from it. He sighed and took out the wand, waving it over the crystal ball the image of Ellie, Toto and Glinda appeared in it. Glinda had gained some of her color back but not much of it. She was definitely sick and that was one thing he knew for sure. He had left a pot of tea and some tea cups in there for them at some point in the night but by now it was probably cold as his cup of it was. He walked out of the tower and towards the room they were staying in. when he got there he found the door partially open, he pushed it open the rest of the way and walked in. he walked over to the pot of tea and removed it from the table. The pot was now cold, he sighed and walked out. It took him a few minutes but he eventually found his way back to the kitchen. He walked over to the sink and poured the cold tea into its basin. He then flicked his wand and the pot filled up with fresh water. He walked over to the stove and picked up a thing of matches, lighting one he used it to light up the stove top, which he set the pot down on. He then went to the pantry and pulled out a box of dried tea leaves. Taking a handful he crushed them and dropped them into the pot. After a few minutes it began to boil and he mixed it a bit with a wooden spoon that was hanging over the stove. After a few more minutes he snapped his fingers and the stove turned itself off. He picked up the pot of tea and made his way back to the room. When he got there he found Ellie awake, looking at him curiously.

"What's in that pot?" she asked concerned.

"Hot tea." He replied looking at her, he then walked over to her and placed the pot on the table.

Ellie who really didn't seemed convinced at this point looked at the pot then at the jester who sighed. He snapped his finger and a tea cup appeared in his hand, he then poured himself a cup and took a sip from it.

"It's not poisoned if that's what your concern is." He said looking in his cup, "needs sugar." He then mumbled to himself.

Ellie was surprised at this but shrugged it off. She then poured a cup of tea and got up, walking over to her sisters side and gently brought the cup to her list. Using her free hand she tilted her sister's head up and carefully pour the tea in her mouth. She coughed a few times her eyes opened. She looked around weakly, her brow furrowed when her gaze fell onto the jester.

"Ellie, run." Glinda said weakly.

"No, the jester is offering hospitality so that you can recover." Ellie said pouring some more tea into her sister's mouth.

Her gaze turned towards the jester, who smiled a bit.

"Why?" Glinda asked closing her eyes.

"Because for some reason, I was feeling guilt, because you were weakened somehow, you still feel as cold as marble, and it wanted to get it off my chest." The jester said.

"So, morality then?" Glinda asked.

"Pretty much." he said sighing.

"Well then, this isn't going to stop you from your confrontation with Dorothy." she said knowing it was true.

"Glinda, you know me enough, just be glad I haven't turned your sister into a statue and you back into one." He said as Toto barked at him a threatening tone.

The jester glared at him and he shrunk back. This conversation was making Ellie curious but she didn't want to bring it any further, so she didn't ask.

"What's wrong with her anyways?" Ellie asked looking at the jester.

"If I knew I'd stop it and probably wouldn't be feeling guilt." he said.

"You wouldn't be able to stop it if you wanted to." Glinda said weakly.

"And why not?" the jester asked in a how would you know tone.

"Because, I'm causing it myself, though indirectly." Glinda said.

"How?" they both asked in unison.

"The anklet, it provides the wearer with protection from your power, it does however drain mine." She said.

"And that's what's weakening you?" Ellie asked.

"In a way yes, but being trapped in the dungeon in those conditions made it slightly worse, I'm not sure if I'll be able to recover." She said.

"Glinda don't say that." Ellie said tearing up a bit.

"Glinda, she's right, if the anklet is removed, by your logic you should start recovering." The jester said trying to contemplate this.

"Jester, you and I, both know how this is supposed to play out, we both know there is a chance that I might not survive." Glinda said looking at him.

The jester sighed in defeat, he knew she was right, the future now that he had read it was absolute, very little could change it. He walked out of the room, wiping a tear from his eye. Then a realization came to him.

"Let the game begin." He said to himself running to the tower.

Ellie sat there, in silence, tears in her eyes. She rested her sister's head back down on the pillow. She then bent down and removed the anklet, setting it down on the table she sighed. The anklet glowed a bit and then stopped.

"Glinda?" Ellie asked placing a hand on her forehead.

She was still cold as marble, the jester hadn't been wrong about that, but her color was draining again. Nothing was helping, she needed assistance but there was no way either she or the jester could do it. She just kneeled down next to the bed and began to cry.

_Back in the emerald city._

Dorothy had left the library a few hours previous, she had a large sinking feeling welling up in the pit of her stomach. She knew something was wrong, she hoped that none of her friends were hurt or harmed. But she didn't have much time to think about this before the city shook. Dorothy jumped off of her bed and looked out the window, the clouds were swirling and contorting again. She walked over to her closet and pulled out a pair of light blue dress socks. She then walked over to her boots and pulled them on, then picking up the scepter she ran out to the fields and was confronted with the figure of the jester floating there in the sky.

"Oh good, your listening, I grow tired of this game and I am ready to start a new one, I shall tell you where I am but it will be your job to find the place." The jester said smiling, a chessboard with the pieces still in position from the last time she saw it appeared in front of her.

She picked up a pawn from its starting position and moved two squares forward. The chess board then vanished.

"Fine, but why do you want to change the game?" she asked.

"Well it's much more fun to watch you struggle through an adventure." The jester said smiling and laughing.

Elena and Alyssa emerged from the city, the walked over to Dorothy. Alyssa had the queen and her guards on her shoulder. The jester turned his gaze to them.

"So, your majesty, did you join this group because you felt sorry or because you needed somewhere to go besides my sister's old castle?" he asked.

"How did you know about that?" the queen asked concerned.

"Because I've looked in on the castle to make sure the girl hadn't decided to return to try and find me." He said.

"If you hurt any of my subjects." The queen began to say.

"I didn't hurt anyone." He said laughing, "anyways do you want to know where I am or not?" he asked losing his patience.

"yes." Dorothy said.

"I'm at the legendary castle grey." He said smiling, then he vanished.

Elena and Alyssa both gasped in surprise.

"What?" Dorothy asked looking over to them.

"Castle grey shouldn't technically exist, it was said to have been lost during the great ice storm." Elena said.

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Dorothy asked.

"Because I never really thought about it." Elena said, Alyssa nodded in agreement.

"Castle grey is a really old legend, something that none of us really believe in." Alyssa said.

"Well at least we have a lead, but is there anywhere in the legend that says its location?" Dorothy asked.

"Somewhere in the far east of Oz, far outside of the populated areas of the east." Alyssa said.

"Well then, I'll go set up a bag of supplies." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, you're not thinking of going alone are you?" Elena asked.

"I have to." Dorothy said grasping the scepter tightly.

"Dorothy, being soldiers we must accompany you." Elena said.

"No, I'm not putting you guys back into danger." Dorothy said walking towards the city.

When Dorothy enter the city she found Alyssa and Elena walking after her. She soon got to her room and walked in. she walked over to her closet and searched through it, she found a backpack, and to her surprise, the leather lunch box that Ellie used for sandwiches when they were in the forest. She picked it up and opened it. It looked empty until she reached her hand in, a sandwich wrapped in wax paper appeared in there, and she picked it up and looked at it. She then placed it back into the lunch box and shut it. She then slung it over her shoulder, picking up the backpack she emerged from the closet. She found Alyssa, Elena, and the queen sitting on her bed.

"Dorothy we can't let you go alone" Alyssa said getting up.

"Alyssa I know your captain of Glinda's army and all, but the answer is still no." Dorothy said trying to convince them to stay.

"Dorothy, say what you'd like but were going with you no matter what." Elena said.

Dorothy shook her head in frustration, the she looked at the queen.

"I will be returning to the west, I have to, my subjects will be missing me and I'm worried about what the jester might have done." The queen said.

Dorothy nodded and looked at the sisters.

"I'm not letting you guys put your lives on the line just to help me, I've already hurt so many." Dorothy said picking up the scepter.

"Dorothy, like we've said, no matter what we will accompany you, we both really care about you, think about it what would Ellie want you to do?" Elena asked.

Elena had done it, she had found one of Dorothy's weaknesses, Ellie, one of the people she cared about, cared for like a sister. She began to tear up, Ellie would have stood by Dorothy's side for this and she would have wanted her to let them come along. Dorothy looked at Elena who walked over and hugged her.

"You told us you wouldn't abandon the people you care about." Elena said, "Now it's time we show you the same loyalty" she added smiling.

Dorothy didn't say anything, she just returned the embrace, Alyssa smiled and picked up the queen.

"Well I'm going to return the queen to the west, we'll depart when I return." She said walking out.

Elena broke from the embrace and nodded. She then walked over to the door and turned to Dorothy.

"I'm going to head to my room and get prepared, you should pack some necessities in that bag of yours." Elena said.

Dorothy nodded and walked over to her bed, she then knocked on the side table, when the drawer opened she picked up the little book Glinda had given her, and the crystal orb, both of which she placed in her pocket. She then grabbed some paper and a few sketching pencils as well. She put those in the backpack as well as the large book Glinda had left her with. She had no reason to want to know the truth yet, she wasn't completely ready to learn it yet either. She sighed and picked the backpack up, sealing it shut she slung it on her back and walked to the door. A few seconds later she stepped out of the room and shut the door. Locking it with the key she had been wearing around her neck for a while now.

She turned around to find Elena, in her soldiers uniform and a large backpack similar to the one she saw Ellie wearing when they first met, the difference was that Elena's was emerald green, Ellie's was a nice pink color.

"I know you know how the tents work, and how the cooking pots work but I think I should explain to you about what stops the tents from being attacked in the middle of the night by anything." Elena said.

"I never actually wondered about that." Dorothy said.

"I'll tell you anyway, I'm sure you noticed at one point of another that Ellie would keep her sword next to the door of the tent, am I right?" Elena asked.

Dorothy thought about this, Ellie always kept her sword by the door of the tent whenever set up the tent, she found herself actually thinking about this now.

"Yea, I thought that was just a habit." Dorothy said.

"It's not just habit its routine, when we put the sword by the door of the tent it creates a, magical bubble of safety around a large are of the campsite, using the tent as the middle of it, it's one of Glinda's enchantments." Elena said.

"Oh." Dorothy said still confused.

"Yea, I know that's what I said when it was explained to me, I just learned how to cope with it over time." She said.

Just then Alyssa walked up to them, she was now also in her soldier's uniform, as well as carrying the same pack as her sister was.

"Well, are we ready to go?" She asked smiling.

"Yep." Elena said patting her medical pouch.

"I guess." Dorothy said sighing.

"Good, come on, it's a long journey to the east." She said.

"Don't I know it?" Dorothy said giggling.

Soon they were out of the emerald city, they found some guards waiting at the east exit to seem them off. Alyssa saluted to them, as did Elena and the three of them continued walking till they got to the yellow brick road.

"So, to the land of the east." Dorothy said.

"To the land of the east." Alyssa said nodding.

Dorothy sighed and they started on their way.

_Meanwhile in castle grey._

"Well at least they're headed in the right direction." He said smiling.

He then got up and walked out of the tower, soon he found himself in the room that Glinda and her sister were in. he walked in and looked at them, Ellie had been crying. He walked over to her and carefully placed his hand on her shoulder. Ellie looked up at him and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Your friend is on her way, she should be here in a matter of days, she is accompanied by your captain and her sister, this should be amusing." He said laughing.

Ellie looked at the jester and got up.

"How do you know she'll find the place?" she asked.

"I don't, but when she gets close I'll bring her here, and then, the battle." He said laughing wickedly.

Ellie walked over to the door, Toto got up and jumped from the chair, following.

"Ellie?" Glinda said weakly.

"Yes Glinda?" she asked

"Remember, no one, is alone." She said.

Ellie's eyes began to fill with tears, she ran out of the room and in the direction of the dungeons. The jester sighed and placed a hand on Glinda's forehead, she felt slightly warmer but it wasn't much of an

improvement, it meant that she could still recover but they'd need to wait and see. He got up and sighed, he needed to find Ellie.


	12. Meanwhile

**Disclaimer, I don't own the franchise, movies, etc.**

The group walked along the road for a few hours before they stopped for lunch. Dorothy took off the lunch pouch and took a sandwich out of it, then handed it around. They ate lunch in silence, Dorothy looked at the sky, she hoped that they would be able to find castle grey, the yellow brick road looked like it was sparkling in the sun. Dorothy sighed as she finished her sandwich and slung it back over her shoulder. She then got up and picked up her backpack.

"You two ready?" Dorothy asked.

"yep." They said in unison.

They both got up and they walked along the yellow brick road for some time in silence, then Dorothy broke it.

"So, how long do you think it will take to find him?" Dorothy asked trying to keep herself from getting bored.

"Well, how long did it take you to get to the city during your first visit?" Elena asked.

"A few days, I don't really remember." Dorothy said thinking about it.

"Well according to my map, it should take a few days so once we get to munchkin land we can work from there." Alyssa said folding up her map and putting it in her pocket.

"Well then, that's good." Elena said.

They then continued to walk along in silence.

_Meanwhile in the dungeons of castle grey._

The jester had followed Ellie to the dungeons she had run back to the cell she had been kept in she sat down in the corner had cried for a bit. Toto sat in front of her, the jester looked at her and sighed. He didn't have the heart to disturb her, he turned around and walked out of the dungeons. After a few minutes he returned to his tower and the crystal ball lit up. He took out the wand and flicked it the image of Elena, Alyssa, and Dorothy appeared in the ball. They would reach munchkin land in a few days' time, and then he could just lead her into a trap. He laughed wickedly and sat down. He waved the wand at the crystal ball again and it switched to Ellie, who was still crying in the dungeon. For reasons he couldn't explain he felt bad, he felt sorry and he didn't know why. He still had his evil intentions to take Dorothy down, or should he fail, take her down with him, but he needed to lay a trap, somewhere, someway. He began to think about it.

**Sorry this chapter is so short but I needed to do something like this at some point**


	13. Castle grey

**Disclaimer, I don't own the movies, franchise, etc.**

The group walked on until the moon was able to be seen in the sky. They then set up camp not far from the road. Dorothy helped Elena set up the tent, which didn't take long. So they both went to help Alyssa get the cooking fire set up. After a while they had a nice cooking fire going and the cooking pot was set up over it. Dorothy then got up and went into the tent. Elena had placed her sword by the door, she walked over to the bed that she said she would be using and sat down on it, she leaned the scepter down against the bed and then pulled off her boots, taking off the blue socks she had put and stuffing them into her boots, she then lied down on the bed and sighed. She closed her eyes and thought about what she was doing. She was about to go against the jester, she was going to fight him. She knew she couldn't kill him, not on purpose at any rate. She began to tear up a little, she had already killed off his sisters, neither of which were on purpose.

"Dorothy? Are you okay?" Elena asked.

Dorothy opened her eyes and looked at Elena.

"Not really, I'm just, oh never mind I'll explain later." Dorothy said sitting up and wiping the tears from her eyes, "what's for dinner?" she added.

"Chicken soup." Elena replied quite plainly.

"Oh, good." Dorothy said jumping off the bed.

They both walked out of the tent, Dorothy felt the cool forest floor against her bare feet, and it felt relaxing. She walked over to the fire where Alyssa was dishing out soup into some wooden bowls. Elena picked one up and handed it to Dorothy. She thanked her as she also handed her a spoon. Soon they were all eating and enjoying the soup Dorothy explained to them her predicament.

"Dorothy, remember what you're doing is for the greater good." Alyssa said.

"I know but, it still doesn't feel right." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, this is no time to question your morality." Elena said.

"Why not? I accidentally killed both of his older sisters, one with my house and the other by melting her." Dorothy said.

"Good point, but…" Alyssa started to say before she squinted at the sky.

"Alyssa? What's wrong?" Elena asked looking at her sister.

"Would it cause any of you to worry if I said that the jester was watching us?" she asked opening her eyes.

Dorothy and Elena looked behind them, they saw the face of the jester looming above their campsite. He looked a bit expressionless but he had a look of regret in his eyes. He then vanished.

"So, he seemed a bit depressed." Elena said.

"Yes, I wonder why." Alyssa said.

"I feel like I'm not the only one questioning my morality." Dorothy said getting up and walking into the tent, "I think I'm going to turn in early." She added.

"Goodnight." Both the girls said in unison.

Dorothy walked into the tent, and over to the bed. She closed her eyes and the jester's voice rang through her head.

"The new game finally begins." His voice said.

Dorothy began to feel dizzy, she managed to pull herself onto the bed before she blacked out.

_Meanwhile at castle grey._

The jester was looking into the crystal ball, he watched as his messaged reached Dorothy and her passing out on her bed. He laughed wickedly and sighed.

"The girl is playing right into my hands, now to come up with a trap for when she gets here." He said.

He then waved his wand over the crystal ball and it switched to the room that Glinda was in, Ellie had returned to the room, she was asleep in a chair with Toto in her lap. He smiled at this, Glinda had once again began to gain her color back, she was still pale and still pretty cold but it was a bit of an improvement. He flicked the wand the crystal switched back to the campsite. Then he walked out of the room, the crystal went dark and walked to the main hall of the castle. He flicked the wand and the curtain that the china princess and marshal mallow were behind opened.

"What do you want?" The princess asked frustrated and weakly.

"Your savior is on her way." He said laughing wickedly.

This made the princess light up.

"Oh, thank goodness." She said with a sigh of relief.

"Yes, and I have a trap set for her when she gets here." He said flicking the wand.

A chair appeared, with a coil of rope in it.

"That's it?" the princess asked.

"For now? Yes." He said.

"That's, pathetic." She said, her husband nodded in agreement.

"Oh shut up!" he yelled whipping the wand at the curtain and it swung shut.

He did a few cartwheels and flips around the castle. Then he realized he was lost. He then spent about three hours before found the second entrance to the dungeons. He went into the dungeons and looked at his statues. He laughed at them.

"What's so funny?" came the voice of the lion.

"Oh, I forgot about you three, why didn't I ever turn you three stone?" he asked wondering it himself.

"Because we're hostages?" the tin man said weakly.

"No, that's what I keep Ellie here for, there was another reason." He said hitting himself on the head trying to clear it.

"Does it have something to do with the fact that you're questioning your morality to the point where you're talking to yourself?" the scarecrow asked.

"Well, yes, but there was another reason." He said flicking the wand, a chair appeared behind him which he sat down in, "Well I know that the spell won't work on the tin can, or the animated straw man, but there has to be a reason why I didn't turn you, you overgrown alley cat." He added

"Who you calling an alley cat you circus clown." The lion yelled at him.

"Lion do me a favor please?" the scarecrow asked turning to face his friend.

"What?" he asked.

"Shut up." the scarecrow replied.

This made the jester laugh, it was really amusing to him.

"Now I remember, I like hearing you guys argue." He said getting up from the chair and doing a few backflips out of the area.

After a few minutes he walked to the room that Glinda and Ellie was in. he walked over to Glinda and placed a hand on her forehead. She was slightly warmer, it wasn't much of an improvement but it gave him hope that she could improve, that she could pull through. He then quietly walked over to Ellie, flicking the wand a small blanket appeared under Toto. The jester then walked out before the dog could acknowledge his presence. He then walked up to the tower. The crystal ball had already lit back up, it was daytime and the girls had already packed up the site and left, he saw that Dorothy wasn't wearing her boots. This struck him as odd, he had never really seen her bare foot before, or at any rate if had he hadn't been paying much attention. But he noticed that the boots were tied to backpack she was wearing.

"So, you're ticklish, but you walk bare foot on the yellow brick road like it's nothing." He said to himself, "Perhaps I can use this to my advantage when she gets here, wait a minute, was a really lost for that long?" he then told himself.

_Meanwhile on the yellow brick road._

"Dorothy, I mean it you should really put your boots on, I mean there's no knowing what you'll run into along the yellow brick road." Alyssa said.

"I know, oh fine, give me a minute." Dorothy said sitting on a nearby rock placing the scepter next to her.

She took the blue sock out of her boots and pulled them on, then she pulled on her boots and got up, she then picked up the scepter and rejoined the girls. She started using the scepter like a hiking staff in order to keep herself going for long periods of time.

"So, do we have a plan for when we get there?" Elena asked curiously.

"I do and that's keep you guys as far away from the jester as humanely possible, if I know him well enough he'll have a trap set up for me." Dorothy said looking at them.

"What? No, Dorothy we are sticking by your side till the end." Alyssa said.

"No, I'm not putting you guys in anymore danger than you are by coming with me." Dorothy said sternly.

"Dorothy, what would…" Elena started to say before Dorothy cut her off.

"Ellie would tell you guys the same thing, I may not walk out on the people I love, but I will keep them out of the line of fire as much as I can." Dorothy said looking at her.

"Dorothy's right Elena, Ellie wouldn't allow us to put ourselves in danger if Dorothy said not to." Alyssa said.

"But Ellie's loyal to Dorothy like that." Elena said.

"Okay that's true, but don't deny it." Alyssa said.

Elena nodded in defeat, her sister was right, Ellie was too good natured and pure of heart to allow those to do something like that. Soon they eventually came to a bridge, it was still early morning so Dorothy suggested they stop for a bit and admire the scenery.

"Are you sure?" Elena asked looking over the bridge and into the river.

"quite." Dorothy said.

"Well then I guess we could take a few minutes." Alyssa said.

Dorothy smiled and leaned against the rail of the bridge, she looked around at the beautiful scenery. She liked how beautiful Oz in most places, next to the west at any rate. She liked how the trees were equally spaced apart and how the flowers were such beautiful shades of red, yellow, or pink. She also loved how the rivers and most bodies of water of Oz were crystal clear. She then decided that it was time to embark again, she signaled for them to come along and they did. Soon the bridge was far behind them, then Elena posed a question.

"Dorothy, how many people do you think that the scepter can support while flying?" she asked.

"I don't know and I'm not going to try and find out." She replied sternly.

"Fair enough." Elena said not wanting to argue any further.

"Dorothy, do you even have a plan on how you're going to defeat the jester?" Alyssa asked.

"Not really, he's the one that's most likely going to have a trap planned for me." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, we have maybe two or three more days before we reach the munchkin city, you have plenty of time to come up with a plan." Elena said.

"Which will be hard because he has a list of my physical weaknesses." Dorothy said.

"Oh, right, forgot about that." Elena said.

"I didn't, that's why I intend to play it as it goes along." Dorothy said.

"I guess that sounds logical enough." Alyssa said sarcastically.

They all laughed at this for a minute before they felt the road shake, cracks began to appear in front of them. The ground was caving in, just then Dorothy heard the jester's voice ring through her head.

"Just jump in, this is no jest, but it will be easier for you to find the castle grey you can bring your friends to if you'd." His voice said.

Dorothy nodded, she walked towards the hole and nodded to her friends, she jumped in, her friends followed suit. The hole above them closed as they slid down some sort of manmade slide. Dorothy began to feel dizzy and soon she blacked out. The scepter glowed a bit and send out a wave of energy, their descent slowed, when they eventually reached the bottom they found themselves in some sort of manmade cave system.

"Do you think it's the jester's work?" Elena asked Alyssa.

"If it's not, well you saw the hole close above us, what do you think Dorothy?" Alyssa asked looking at Dorothy.

When they both found that Dorothy was unconscious they both groaned and sat there.

"You don't think the jester has been sending her messaged directly to her head do you?" Alyssa asked her sister.

"Didn't Glinda say that doing that would pretty much be the equivalent to dropping a piano on one's head? You know just less painful?" she asked.

"yes, and it would account for her passing out at random, and the headaches she tends to have when waking up, you know like the one she had this morning" Alyssa said.

"Good point, well should we wait for her to wake up or should we try the smelling salts?" Elena asked.

"Dorothy would probably like to get there as quickly as possible, try the smelling salts, I've got my canteen ready." Alyssa said.

Elena rummaged through her pouch and pulled out a small bottle, she uncorked it and waved it under Dorothy's nose. She coughed a few times but didn't even try to move, she knew she would have a headache at this point. Alyssa then took Dorothy's head and lifted it, using her other hand to tip the water into her mouth. Dorothy drank for a bit before she pushed the canteen away and tried to get up.

"This, is the jesters work, he said it would make it easier to find castle grey." Dorothy said picking up the scepter and leaning against it for support.

"Well, I guess if it's lost its going to be underground." Elena said.

"Yep, Dorothy, you should take the scepter and fly ahead, we'll be fine." Alyssa said assessing the stuff in her pack, "it seems some stuff has been damaged." She added pulling out shards of glass.

Elena looked at her sister and then took off her own pack going through it.

"Dang it, that was one heck of a fall it seems." Elena said looking at where they had just come from, "Alyssa is right, this is your fight, go on ahead, we'll find a way to catch up." she added sadly.

Alyssa placed a hand up and told Dorothy to wait for a minute, she then unbuckled her sword from her belt and handed it to Dorothy.

"Just in case." She said nodding.

Dorothy didn't even try to argue, a little extra protection wasn't something to sneeze at and she knew this. She didn't even know if the scepter could fly to castle grey but it was worth a shot.

"To castle grey, Fly!" she shouted.

The scepter began to pull away from her, she jumped on it and held on as tightly as possible. She watched as the walls of the cave became smoother, as if he had been tunneling to the exact spot he'd known they'd be in. soon she saw light and the scepter began to slow down. As it came to a halt Dorothy jumped off and walked over to a flat enough looking rock, she then took a sandwich from the lunch box and devoured it slowly. She constantly looked at the light, she knew beyond it had to be castle grey, and she felt it. After she finished the sandwich she got up, and grabbed the scepter. She walked towards the light, which she found was dazzlingly bright as she got closer to it she had to use her hand to shield her eyes.

When she got to the entrance she was amazed to see that the castle was in the middle of a giant, dimly lit cavern. It was the size of the emerald city from the looks of it, except that it was made of white marble. She walked towards the castle. This was it, and she knew it.


	14. Battle at castle grey

**Disclaimer, well you know the drill by now I'm sure.**

Dorothy walked up the castle slowly, she looked at the ceiling of the cavern as well, and there were holes in the roof of it that were allowing sunlight to light up the outside of the castle. She blinked a few times and walked up to the door. She knocked once and listened as it echoed through the cavern. The door slowly creaked open and Dorothy looked in.

"Well Dorothy what are you going to do now?" she asked herself.

"Why are you asking yourself a rhetorical question?" came the voice of the jester.

"I don't think it was rhetorical, I have no plan what so ever" Dorothy said walking in.

"Oh that's good, for me that is, for you its most likely going to lead to your demise, now WALK FORWARD!" he shouted laughing wickedly.

Dorothy sighed and walked in the direction that the hallway went. As she walked she saw many paintings of landscapes, but none of people. She liked to subtlety it had to it, but at the same time she felt afraid of it. Soon she found herself in the main hall. Sitting in the middle of it was the chess board she walked over to it and saw the configuration of the pieces and moved her queen.

"Check." She said placing it near the king.

"Good move, but I shall be the one who has checkmate in the end." He said moving his king out of harm's way.

The jester then took out the wand and flicked it. Dorothy felt her hands being tied behind her back in a very complicated knot. She dropped the scepter which clattered to the floor and rolled off.

"Well, you have me where you want me, torture me, kill me, and do whatever you want just let all my friends go." Dorothy said and found herself being guided to a chair by a flying monkey.

"No no, first I want to show you something that I myself am finding depressing." He said jogging over and snatching her away from the monkey.

"Like what?" Dorothy asked him concerned.

"You'll see." He replied in a depressed voice.

Soon they got to the room the jester was keeping Glinda in, he was surprised to find it closed. He flicked the wand and the door unlocked and opened. The jester pushed Dorothy into the doorway but she was immediately pulled into a crushing embrace by Ellie.

"Oh Dorothy, I was hoping you'd turn up soon." Ellie said, Toto barked in happiness.

"Ellie, I've let myself get captured." Dorothy said but then she looked over Ellie's should and gasped, "Glinda! What's happened to her?" she asked as Ellie broke from the embrace.

The jester untied Dorothy's wrist with a flick of his wand and Dorothy ran over to the bed.

"She's sick." The jester said sadly.

Dorothy put a hand on Glinda's forehead and drew it back instantly. She was cold.

"Glinda?" Dorothy asked quietly.

Glinda moved her head and opened her eyes. She smiled weakly when she saw Dorothy.

"Dorothy, my dear child." She said weakly.

"Glinda, what's caused this?" Dorothy asked.

"The anklet, it protected you two from the jester's power by draining mine, there is a small chance I might not recover." Glinda said weakly.

"You sacrificed your power for us?" Dorothy asked concerned beginning to tear up.

"Dorothy, please." Glinda said before she closed her eyes.

Dorothy checked for Glinda's pulse, finding it she sighed in relief. She got up and found herself crying. She then walked over to the anklet, picking it up her opened it up and put on Glinda's wrist. Her color returned a bit. Dorothy put a hand on her forehead. It was rising a bit and it was an improvement. She then looked over to Ellie and the jester.

"Ellie take care of your sister." Dorothy said walking over, "and if I don't make it out of this, do me a favor." She said.

"Anything Dorothy." Ellie said.

"If I don't make it out of this, tell my story, to anyone who asks." Dorothy said, "I'm ready." Dorothy said turning around.

The jester flicked the wand and the rope wrapped its self around Dorothy's wrists. He then led Dorothy back to the main hall. He flicked the wand again and all the statues, and her friends and aunt and uncle appeared. The scarecrow, the tin man and the lion looked at Dorothy sadly. The jester then flicked the wand again and the statues instantaneously turned back into her friends, and her aunt and uncle.

"Dorothy!" came the voices of her aunt and uncle.

"Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, I'm so sorry." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, please tell me you aren't about to do what we all think you're about to do." Came the voice of the china princess.

"Jester, send them all home, with the exception of Ellie, Glinda and Toto." Dorothy said looking at Mr. and Mrs. Upland sadly.

"As you wish, but don't you want them to see this?" the jester asked teasingly.

Dorothy shot the jester a look of pure venom. The jester was scared by this he waved the wand in a large flourish and they all vanished.

"Emerald city?" Dorothy asked.

"Yep." The jester said tonelessly.

"So, are we going to fight or are you just going to turn me into a statue instead?" Dorothy asked.

"Right now neither, reason, I'm hungry at the moment, oh and the two girls that came with you, I sent them back too." The jester said doing a few backflips.

"Have a sandwich." Dorothy said looking at the lunch pouch.

"Don't mind if I do." He said flicking the wand.

A sandwich flew out and he caught it. He unwrapped it and devoured it hungrily. He then flicked the wand again and Dorothy found herself tied to a chair she couldn't move her upper body but her legs were not tied now. The jester was standing in front of her now, he bent down and looked at her boots.

"What are you doing?" Dorothy asked concerned.

"Dorothy you said you were ticklish, lacked in flexibility and a bunch of other stuff." The jester said looking at the notepad and flipping through it.

"That is correct." Dorothy said crossing her legs in front of her.

"I was watching you in the crystal ball in the tower, and I saw that you were barefoot, am I to assume you are really ticklish on the soles of your feet?" the jester asked looking at her smiling.

"Yes, that is once again, correct." Dorothy said as the jester flicked the wand again.

Dorothy felt what felt like invisible hands pulling at her boots, the jester stood up and laughed wickedly. Dorothy didn't even fight back, she gave the jester the list in all fairness, she was going to let him have his fun if he so wanted. The boots began to slide off of her feet revealing the light blue socks, the jester took care of these himself, pulling them off her feet and throwing them behind his back.

"You know what I'm going to do I'm assuming?" the jester asked.

"I assume if I had to that you are going to use magic to tickle me and my feet, till I either run out of energy or pass out, while you run on that conveyer belt contraption over there." Dorothy said looking at it.

"Wow, you have an eye for detail don't you" the jester said annoyed.

He flicked the wand again and Dorothy felt as though she felt as though her feet were being tickled by invisible hands. She did her best to hold back giggling but she knew it was a matter of time, she looked around and found the jester running rather quickly on his machine.

"S-s-so, how d-d-do you think this is going to go?" Dorothy asked trying hard not to giggle or laugh.

"I, hope, that, I can defeat you." He said through breaths.

"o-oh" she said.

The scepter then flew into the room and tried to beat the jester off the conveyer. This is what broke Dorothy, she started laughing. The jester took out the wand and whipped it towards the scepter which fell and rolled towards Dorothy.

"Keep your weapon, from attacking me before, we fight." He said gasping, he wasn't going to be able to keep this up for long, and he hoped Dorothy wouldn't be able to either.

Dorothy nodded, she was out of breath from laughing, but the tickling continued. Soon she began to feel dizzy and the tickling stopped, the chair and the bindings disappeared and she was panting, she was tired at this point she reached for the scepter and used it to help her gain her balance, the jester was also on the ground panting. Dorothy felt the cold marble on the soles of her feet, it made her shiver a bit but at this point anything was better than being tortured. She flicked the scepter in the jester's direction, a bolt of light came out of it and hit him in the middle of the face. He flew back a few inches and got up.

"So, what's your defense then?" The jester asked her.

Dorothy heard a familiar voice whisper in her ear 'west', Dorothy shrugged this off and ran at the jester. He sent a spell at her that missed and turned a plant behind her into a marble statue. He laughed at this and did a backflip towards his tower. Dorothy ran after him, the voice continuing to whisper in her ear. 'Protection is best from the east and west.' It repeated.

When they got up to the tower Dorothy was surprised to find that they were now on what looked like a large chess board with oversized chess pieces.

"Last move, Dorothy gale!" the jester called from on top of his king.

Dorothy looked at the position of her pieces, she had the king in check only moments ago, so all she needed to do was move the right piece and she'd have him in check mate. She looked around and her eyes fell up her rook, the jester noticed this as well and panicked. Dorothy pointed the scepter at the rook and it moved to the exact place she needed it.

"Check Mate." Dorothy said with a smiled.

"No! I will not be defeated this time!" he yelled sending a spell at her.

It missed and hit a pawn behind her. The voice continued whispering in her ear. Dorothy nodded and hit the end of the scepter against the ground hoping this would work.

"For the protection that I know is best, summon the spirits of the EAST and WEST!" she yelled.

The orb glowed a bright emerald green. Thunder could be heard from above them, then the entire castle shook. A large puff of smoke appeared, this caused Dorothy to cough. When the smoke cleared the jester gasped.

"Oh no!" he said as she heard an explosion.

Dorothy looked up and was met with a sight that made her want to run. The witch of the west and someone whom she could only assume was the witch of the east were standing right in front of her. They turned around and looked at her.

"Thank you." They both said.

"Anytime, you two should go find the room that Ellie and Glinda are in, help Glinda she may be dying, I'll take care of the jester." Dorothy said.

The witch of the east looked at her sister and nodded, she then ran off down the stairs of the tower. The witch of the west looked at Dorothy and smiled. Dorothy then noticed something different about the witch. Yes she was still green, but she didn't look old or ugly, she looked young and beautiful. She placed a hand on Dorothy's shoulder.

"Good luck" she said running after her sister.

Dorothy nodded and ran in the direction that the jester had gone in. she didn't go far before she felt the ground shake.

"How dare you bring my sisters into this!" came his voice from every direction.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Dorothy said tripping and falling over.

A spell then struck the orb which shatter in a small explosion. Dorothy threw the scepter to the side and got up and ran. She had to find the jester, but she tripped again and looked up to find the jester standing over her with the scepter, a new blue glass orb attached to it. He held it up and was about to bring it down on top of Dorothy who closed her eyes and braced herself. But instead of being hit she heard the sound of metal clashing against the scepter. She opened her eyes and found Ellie holding back the jester with her sword.

"Dorothy, run!" Ellie screamed struggling.

Dorothy got up and moved out of the way she then ran at the jester. Tackling him he let go of the scepter which Ellie caught. Both Dorothy and the jester tumbled to the ground. Dorothy looked and saw the jester's wand lying on the ground, sadly so had the jester, Dorothy however was closer and grabbed it, throwing it away. Ellie ran over and tossed the scepter to Dorothy who caught it she got up and stood over the jester and held it up about to strike.

"Well played, Dorothy gale, strike me down." He said.

Dorothy looked at the jester, if she complied and killed him she would be as bad as him, or his sisters. She put down the scepter.

"No." she said.

"What?" both Ellie and the jester asked in unison.

"Just, no" Dorothy said taking the scepter and pointing it at the sky.

A large vortex appeared above them. The jester in the commotion scrambled for the wand, grabbing it he sent his final spell at Dorothy, this one didn't miss. Dorothy felt pain, she fought back screaming and realizing she was being turned to marble. Ellie screamed as the three witches ran up to the scene. Glinda gasped and sent a spell at the jester, he jumped out of the way and worked his way up to the vortex. Jumping in him vanished. The scepter clattered to the ground as Dorothy turned completely into a marble statue. The two witches faded as their summoner was turned to white marble. Ellie ran up to the statue and began to cry.

Glinda walked over to her sister and pulled her away, Toto walked up and whimpered.

"Glinda, please tell me there is something you can do?" Ellie asked crying.

"I'm afraid not." Glinda said crying.

Dorothy had a look of sadness on her face. Glinda waved her wand and they appeared back in the emerald city. Glinda waved her wand again and she found herself back at castle grey. She walked to the main hall and grabbed Dorothy's boots and the socks. She began to cry.

"Dorothy, I'm so sorry." Glinda said crying.

**Yes I turned Dorothy to stone, but this isn't the end. Or her end.**


	15. Grieving

**Disclaimer, you know.**

There was darkness looming of the emerald city that day. The stone statue of Dorothy had been placed in the chambers. Everyone in the Land of Oz felt sadness, the jester had escaped into the vortex. No one knew if he survived this time. But in his last attempt to do things, he sent a final spell at Dorothy, turning her to stone.

"Dorothy, oh god, Dorothy why?" Was the voice of her aunt and uncle as the bad news had been delivered to them.

Ellie had locked herself in her room crying, nothing anyone could do would get her to leave it. Glinda spent most of her time in her room. Her magic couldn't combat the jester's spell, she tried everything she knew about evil magic and none of it worked. Soon enough Glinda had announced the memorial for Dorothy gale. Everyone was in tears already no one wanted for it to be true, but it was. The scarecrow, tin man and lion had placed flowers of Oz in front of the statue alongside her boots. Toto had taken vigil to guarding the statue for all he was worth.

"So, he won in the end." Alyssa said looking into the crystal ball with Alison who had spent a lot of her time looking through her research as well.

"Shouldn't you be trying to get Ellie out of her room?" Alison asked.

"I might as well." Alyssa said getting up and walking out.

Alyssa walked past the chambers and heard familiar crying.

"Dorothy, I'm so sorry." Came Ellie's voice.

Alyssa walked into the chambers and saw Ellie kneeling on the ground in front of the statue. She turned and looked at Alyssa when she heard the door the door open. She then got up and ran out of the room past Alyssa. Ellie had place the scepter in front of the statue, which had grown dark. She ran after Ellie post haste. She managed to stop Ellie's bedroom door from shutting. She walked in.

"Ellie?" Alyssa asked.

"Go away." Ellie said in a muffled tone.

"Ellie please, we understand you're upset but you still have us to talk to if you want to." Alyssa said walking over to Ellie.

"Right now I don't want to talk to anyone." Ellie said.

"Ellie you need to talk to someone, you've been secluded in here for days." Came Glinda's voice.

Glinda had appeared next to Alyssa who jumped in surprise. Her hair was flat and not up in its usual manner, her dress was no longer a happy pink color but a raven black. Ellie turned around and saw her sister. She got up and ran over to her sister.

"Glinda, please find something anything!" Ellie said.

"Ellie I'm so sorry, there's nothing I can do, Alison couldn't find anything either, mom and dad are helping Mr. and Mrs. Gale in their grief. After the memorial I'll send them back to Kansas." She said taking her sisters chin in her hand.

Ellie sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"She was my best friend." Ellie said choking back tears.

"I know Ellie, she was everyone's friend." Alyssa said.

Ellie nodded and went back to her bed she lay down on it and cried some more. Glinda led Alyssa out of the room. Shutting the door behind them Glinda confronted her army's captain.

"Is there really nothing that can be done?" Alyssa asked.

"I'm afraid that unless someone has some power I'm not aware of." Glinda said walking towards the chambers.

The both walked in silence until they got to chambers. It was much darker because dark clouds had blocked out the sun. Toto got up from his vigil and whimpered. He walked up to Glinda and looked at her sadly. The china princess and marshal mallow showed up behind them. They walked past and over to the statue. The princess laid some flowers in front of her.

She then walked over to Toto and scratched him behind the ears. He didn't feel any better, he whimpered louder.

"She shouldn't have sent us away." She said wiping a tear from her face, her hand clinking against it.

That night Glinda stood alone in the chambers in front or the statue. Toto had been taken to Ellie's room once he was asleep. Only now did Glinda get to have a good look at the statue of Dorothy she was in the position she had been transformed in but she didn't have a look of pain. It was if she knew that this was meant to happen. She had sadness in her eyes a look that was frozen there. She kneeled down in front of the statue and she herself cried. She soon felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and found Mr. and Mrs. Gale behind her. Henry gale had his hand on her shoulder, Emily was behind him with a handkerchief to her face.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gale, how long have you been standing there?" Glinda asked looking at them.

"We just got her, we came here to grieve and found you." Emily gale said through her tears.

"I'm sorry, I was just, grieving." She said wiping tears from her eyes.

She got up to leave, as did Mr. and Mrs. Gale. Glinda walked to her room and Mr. and Mrs. Gale walked back to their own. When Glinda arrived at her room she walked over to a wall and snapped her fingers. A bed then appeared in front of her. She sat down on it and lied down, she cried for a bit then fell asleep.


	16. even then

**Disclaimer, you know this by now.**

Early the next morning Ellie awoke to find Toto barking at her door. She sniffed and got up and walked up to the door. Opening it Toto ran out as quickly as he could. She then shut the door and walked over to the bed and cried some more. Today was the memorial she didn't even know if she could look at the statue. She missed Dorothy so much already, she should have protected her more. She then heard a knock on her door.

"Ellie? Are you there?" came the voice of Mr. Gale.

Ellie got up and walked to the door. Opening the door she was face to face with Henry gale.

"Hello, Mr. Gale." Ellie said wiping tears from her face.

"How are you doing?" Mr. Gale asked seeming to be on the verge of tears.

"Not well, you?" Ellie asked

"I miss her." Henry said placing a hand on Ellie's shoulder.

"I do too, I wish I had protected her better." Ellie said pushing it away.

This shocked henry, was this little girl blaming herself? He nodded and walked in the direction of Glinda's room. When he got there he found Glinda flipping through books causing some pages to rip out. She was crying hoping to find something, anything.

"Miss Glinda?" Henry asked looking at her.

Glinda gasped and looked up.

"Mr. Gale. I am so sorry, did you need anything?" Glinda asked.

"You need to talk to your sister, I think she's blaming herself." Henry said.

"Sweet Oz, no!" Glinda said getting up and running out.

After a few minutes Glinda found herself at Ellie's room knocking on the door.

"Ellie it's me please open the door." Glinda said.

It took a few minutes but the door eventually opened. Ellie wiped some tears off her face and embraced her sister.

"Glinda, please tell me you found something I'd do anything to get her back." Ellie said.

"Ellie, you know if I did you'd be the second to know, I'm sorry, but you can't blame yourself for what happened to Dorothy." Glinda said kissing her sister on the forehead.

"Sis, I blame myself because she was my charge, I was supposed to protect her under your orders." Ellie said wiping tears from her eyes.

Glinda's eyes went wide, she never had relieved Ellie of her charge, and she never lifted her orders. She hugged Ellie tightly and began to cry a bit. She then sniffed and wipe tears from her eyes. She told Ellie to change into a dress, the memorial would be soon. Ellie nodded and shooed her sister away. She shut the door and walked to her closet. She pulled out the dress Dorothy designed for her. She hugged the dress tightly and went to change into it.

A few hours later in the chambers the sun had finally peaked through the darkened clouds and was shining on the statue making it shine beautifully. Wiser was cleaning off the statue with one of his wings, he was crying, he wished there was something he could do but he knew that there was nothing that could bring her back. Soon everyone who was in the emerald city and others who traveled by large carriages to get there to see the fallen heroine of oz.

The china princess and marshal mallow were the first to confront the statue. They began to tear up, soon Glinda entered followed by her parents. Walking up to the statue Glinda brought a hand up to the face of the statue and stroked it with her thumb. Even if the sun had warmed it, it still wasn't her. Em and Henry gale then entered and stood next to them, followed by the tin man, scarecrow, and the lion entered. None of them could bear to look at the statue. After the girls had filed in and everyone who was coming had taken their places. Ellie was the last one to come in. she was carrying a piece of paper. She slowly approached the statue and set the piece of paper in front of it.

She had gone and sketched a picture of Dorothy, blow that were the words 'Even then' in large golden friendly letters. She then walked away from the statue crying. Glinda had given a speech about Dorothy, about how she managed to change everybody that she met. The Scarecrow then went on to tell the story about how Dorothy help him, the tin man and the lion gain what they most desired. And then it was over. Everyone filed out towards the banquet hall to give their condolences to Mr. and Mrs. Gale and to have some food. Ellie however did not, she stayed behind with Toto. She then walked up to the statue and embraced it, crying. Tears began to roll down her face in an endless stream, some tears dripped on to the statue, others fell onto the scepter which began to glow.

"Even then, I'll keep on even then." She sang weakly, "and love you even then." She added

She then felt not stone but fabric. She looked up and saw that where her tears had fallen growing out of the stone was the fabric of Dorothy's dress. Toto noticed this and barked loudly as the statue began to glow.

"Glinda! GLINDA!" Ellie screamed hoping someone would hear her. Alyssa ran into the door way.

"What is it el… sweet Oz, GLINDA!" she yelled when she saw what was happening.

The entire group returned to the chambers. Glinda gasped when she saw what was happening, she also noticed the scepter was glowing. Em and henry ran forward, as did Alison and Elena. The patches that were restored began to expand. Her face and hair began to change back after her dress.

"If I left you, I never meant to, and I won't pretend, even then, I loved you even then." She sang, she then gave a yawning stretch. She immediately fell into Ellie's embrace.

Ellie began crying tears of joy, and people cheered a whistled, Dorothy's aunt and uncle ran up and pulled their niece into a large hug.

"Oh Dorothy, we thought we lost you for good this time" Aunt Em said wiping some tears from her face.

Ellie broke from the embrace and kissed Dorothy on the cheek. Dorothy giggled, if Ellie were Glinda and slightly taller she would have been kissed on the forehead. But this was her sister.

"To be severely honest I thought I was a goner." Dorothy said pulling from the embrace and dusting herself off.

She then picked up the scepter, which glowed brighter.

"Glinda, did you do something?" Ellie asked looking at her sister.

"No, I don't know what did this." Glinda said transformed the color of her dress from black to a light blue color.

They began to question this but the scepter glowed and wind whipped through the room, the figures of the witch of the east and the witch of the west appeared briefly to all of them, they looked at Ellie and smiled. They then vanished with the words. "Thank you" echoing throughout the room.

Everyone cheered again as the scepter resumed its usual glowing. Dorothy bent down and picked up Toto, who barked happily and licked her on the face.

"So, the jester is gone for now." Dorothy said.

"Where did you mean for that vortex to go?" Glinda asked looking at Dorothy concernedly.

"I wanted it to take the jester far away from the Land of Oz, but he got the wand back so he could be anywhere." Dorothy said.

"Well then, one last battle, and this time he'll gather real followers I'm sure." The china princess said pushing her way through the crowd and up to Dorothy.

"Quite right, but next time we'll be ready." Glinda said nodding.

Dorothy got up and looked around, when she saw her boots lying next to where she had been standing she walked over, pulled the socks out of it and pulled them on. She then got up and looked at Glinda.

"Glinda, please send us home." Dorothy said smiling.

"Sure dear, but don't you want to stay a bit longer?" Glinda asked.

"I think there are people who would be missing me." Dorothy said walking over to her aunt and uncle, "Oh and Ellie?" she added.

"Yes Dorothy?" she responded smiling.

"Do try to drop in from time to time." Dorothy said as Glinda waved her wand over them.

They were soon surrounded by a rainbow, Dorothy waved goodbye to all her friends and smiled. After a few minutes she found herself standing in the fields outside her house, her aunt and uncle were running down the road followed by the sheriff and Mr. Alistair. Toto barked at them, Dorothy looked up and saw that it was no longer dark, dreary and cloudy, but bright and sunny. She smiled and ran up to her aunt and uncle.

"So everyone believed the cover story?" Dorothy asked.

"Somewhat, but the rain only stopped yesterday, some people began to hallucinate about seeing funnel clouds and what not." The sheriff said.

"Looks like you'll have another story to tell to the children in the library." Mr. Alistair said laughing.

After a while they all laughed, Dorothy asked what she had missed at the school. Mr. Alistair told her not to worry, given the recent events. She would be excused from any work she missed.

"Thanks Mr. Alistair, say hi to Donna for me." Dorothy said as Mr. Alistair turned to leave.

Dorothy then walked back to the farm, the sheriff was talking to her aunt and uncle about getting them a new pickup truck to replace the old one. Dorothy smiled and walked into the farm house, followed by Toto she walked in and shut the door. She hoped that she wouldn't have to face evil again for a long time.

**Well that's the end of this story, but don't worry there will be closure**

_**Song lyrics used. Even then from Legends of Oz Dorothy's return**_


End file.
